Christian Gamarino, endurance star: "Here, only the fast race; you don’t need a suitcase"

Welcome back, Gama! Christian Gamarino was once a regular on the podiums in the Endurance World Championship, but in 2025 he was slowed down by a serious injury on the eve of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Now he has once again tasted the joy of the podium with Kawasaki Webike TRICKSTAR alongside his adventure companions, in the very same prestigious race.

Clearly, the EWC is a sport of strategy and teamwork, so credit goes to the whole team, but Gamarino was lightning-fast in his stints.

"The podium is a great redemption after a tough 2025," commented the Genoese rider. "In 2025 I got injured shortly before Le Mans, and it was painful for me not to be able to take part. That injury then affected pretty much the whole season. I’m very happy with the podium: it has a truly special flavor. The bike wasn’t perfect because we had little time to work on it and we practically hadn’t done any tests; the first were the pre-Le Mans ones. Given these premises, the podium is an important result, anything but easy to achieve. Until the very end I didn’t believe it, because, as we know, in endurance anything can happen, even in the last minutes of the race. The race was almost perfect, even though we lost 8 laps due to a throttle body issue. Moreover, it struggled in the heat and performed better with slightly lower temperatures. But we managed to be consistent and achieve this great result. It was a great start, and clearly, being in a factory team, expectations for the championship are high: the goal is always victory and the podium."

After Niccolò Canepa’s retirement, Christian Gamarino is effectively the Italian reference rider in the EWC. Perhaps if he’d been born in Paris instead of Genoa, he’d be a crowd idol.

"In Italy, unfortunately, Endurance is not known, it’s not understood," Gamarino points out. "In France it has a huge following and is considered an important championship, whereas many Italians think that those who race in endurance do it as a kind of fallback. The reality is different. To take part in MotoGP, WorldSBK or Supersport, you need a big initial budget. If you don’t have it, you can’t race, show your worth, and then aim for a factory team. Basically, you have to buy your way in, at least initially. The EWC, on the other hand, is a meritocratic championship; you don’t need a budget to get in, and if you have talent you move up and maybe manage to join a factory team and become a full-fledged professional, and therefore earn a living."

Motorcycling—or rather, motorsport in general—in Italy is viewed more as an expensive hobby than as a job.