Nine races. This is what it took for Tech3 KTM Factory Racing to be scoring points with both rookies, a great achievement rewarding both riders and crew for their continued hard work since the start of the 2022 campaign in the MotoGP World Championship. At 14:00 local time (GMT+2), Remy Gardner was starting the Grand Prix of Catalunya from the twentieth position, and teammate Raul Fernandez from the twenty-fourth.

Although Friday and Saturday were not ideal, Remy Gardner was fully motivated to race for the first time on a MotoGP bike in Barcelona in front of family and friends. When the lights went out for twenty-four laps, he took a rather good start to find himself from P20 to P16. On the third lap, he was just 0.050 seconds behind Ducati Factory rider Jack Miller and managed to make a Top 15 entry on the fourth lap behind fellow rookie Darryn Binder. Remy rode with a solid pace in the 1’41, with his best race lap in 1’41.504 on lap 7, which allowed him to maintain his position and be able to continue chasing the riders ahead of him. In the space of a few laps, he gained position on the likes of Franco Morbidelli, Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro and was in P13 on the thirteenth lap. Remy controlled his tyres very well and seemed able to continue pushing until the end. Within the final lap, he overtook two riders to pass the checkered line in P11, his best-ever MotoGP result this season.

Raul Fernandez was starting from the back of the grid, but took a solid start and got himself in P18 within the first lap, a few seconds away from Jack Miller. Another crash meant that he took the seventeenth position on the fifth lap, a place that he managed to maintain as he rode within the 1’41. From lap 8, he started to ride in 1’42 and kept his regularity throughout the entire race as he was trying to manage his tyres. A few more riders ahead crashed and allowed Raul to pass the final line in P15 to score his first point in the MotoGP class. This is a positive point that together with his team he will need to feed from, ahead of tomorrow’s testing day at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya.

Remy Gardner

Position: 11^th

Championship: 23^rd

Points: 8

"We got a good result which is really encouraging for the team and myself. There have been a lot of crashes, but I managed to stay on the wheels and fight until the end. I was even able to overtake both Franco Morbidelli and Darryn Binder in the final lap, so we can say that we deserve this result. I am really happy for everyone involved, and we now need to continue in this positive direction."

Raul Fernandez

Position: 15^th

Championship: 24^th

Points: 1

"It was another difficult race because I feel like we have not been able to improve the bike. I struggle to move my body on the bike and don’t have too much confidence in the front tyre, so on a technical track like this, it was always going to be challenging. I am still happy that I have finally scored my first point. Tomorrow will be an important day as we have work to do in order to improve my bike and try gaining more confidence with the tyres. This is our target and I am hoping that we will be able to make progress."

Hervé Poncharal

Team Manager

"Tech3 KTM Factory Racing had to wait for the ninth round of the MotoGP World Championship to finally have our two riders scoring points. We are really proud and happy for both Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez. With the hot conditions, we knew it would be a tough and long race, but they held on until the end and learned a lot.

Congratulations to Remy because he was in the chasing group the entire race and even gained two more positions in the final lap to get a P11, his best result of the season. This proves that he was feeling good and fresh enough to be able to push until the checkered flag, which is a huge progress for him. Miguel Oliveira won the race here last year, and I would like to underline that Remy only finished six seconds behind him today, so I think that this is enough to demonstrate the level of his performance today. Of course we still have a lot of work to do, but we will take his positive result and feed on it to continue moving forward together.

Raul was a bit behind but also never gave up. He even managed to overtake Pol Espargaro who is on a Honda factory bike, something I am sure he can be happy with. He scored his first, but not last, point of the season. I want to thank him for his hard work and never give-up attitude, and would like to say to him to hold on because we still have many races and we are in our rookie season. We will continue pushing, working and learning together. Thank you to the whole MotoGP crew, and to KTM for their continued support."