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The 2021 Moto2 champion would ride a Monster Energy Yamaha in place of Alex Rins, who injured himself in a highside at the very first corner of the Assen Race in recent days.
Gardner rode a Tech3 KTM in his single MotoGP season in 2022, after which his contracted was not renewed and he landed in the Superbike World Championship at the GRT Yamaha team.
The Australian is currently seventh in the WSBK standings and second of the Yamaha riders, having bagged a maiden podium in the production-based category at Assen in April.
The Iwata marque is not obliged to field a replacement rider given less than 10 days will have elapsed since Rins’ crash although it may see fit to field two motorcycles anyway given it does not have a satellite team until Pramac comes onboard at season’s end.
Rins was thrown from his YZR-M1 and while the initial report of a fractured right wrist was subsequently downgraded to bad bruising, he was found to have fractured his right foot.
The Spaniard was set to undergo further medical tests in Madrid, with Team Manager Massimo Meregalli saying post-race, “We are lucky that the injury is not worse, but he will likely still need to have surgery.”
That is yet to be confirmed although it would not be surprising if Rins was ruled out of the Sachsenring event, which is the last before the summer break.
Whether the call-up means a more lasting return to MotoGP for Gardner in future is not clear, although there have been no signs that he would be a candidate for one of the Pramac seats, and the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team which competes in Moto2 is intended to blood young talent anyway.
Ayumu Sasaki and Jeremy Alcoba will be racing for Yamaha VR46 in Moto2 at the Sachsenring, although test rider Cal Crutchlow would be the logical fill-in.
However, the Briton was forced to withdrawn from a wildcard appearance at Mugello last month following hand surgery and may have declined/been overlooked on the basis that he is still not fully fit.
