From SBK to Hard Enduro, a heroic Remy Gardner: 27 hours of racing at Red Bull Romaniacs

The Australian rider is not having a great SBK season, but his passion for racing remains intact: he put himself to the test in a different and decidedly demanding discipline.

Yamaha is disappointing in the 2026 Superbike World Championship, that’s clear to everyone. The R1 is a fairly dated bike and this year it has proven to be far behind the new Ducati Panigale V4 R. The riders don’t have the chance to aim for the podium, and even getting into the top five or six is extremely difficult.

In the overall standings there isn’t a single Yamaha rider in the top 10; the best is Andrea Locatelli, eleventh with 99 points. Xavi Vierge is fourteenth with 80, while Remy Gardner is seventeenth (45) and is ahead of his new teammate and rookie Stefano Manzi (eighteenth with 34 points). It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the end in the intra-team battles at Pata Maxus and GYTR GRT.

Gardner moved to the Superbike World Championship in 2023, after an extremely difficult season in MotoGP with the KTM Tech3 team. He had made the big leap as the reigning Moto2 champion, but things didn’t go well and he was dropped by the Mattighofen manufacturer. To continue his career he decided to test himself in the top production-derived championship and has reached his fourth year with the GYTR GRT Yamaha team. He will also have a fifth, since his contract expires in 2027.

Manzi also has a deal valid for next year; both hope to have a more competitive technical package in 2027. In the meantime, they’re battling for supremacy within the team led by Filippo Conti. The pressure is on the Australian, who has far more experience with the R1 and WorldSBK. By contrast, the 2025 Supersport champion is a rookie who needs to learn and isn’t “obliged” to beat his teammate in his first year: he’ll try, but not succeeding wouldn’t be a failure.

The 2026 Superbike World Championship won’t resume until the September 4–6 weekend, so the riders have time to rest, train, and even race in different disciplines. Gardner himself took on a far from easy challenge: last week he went to Romania to compete in one of the toughest off-road races in the world, Red Bull Romaniacs. It’s a Hard Enduro rally based in Sibiu, a city located in the Transylvania region.

Gardner completed nearly 27 hours of racing (26 hours, 42 minutes and 15 seconds) over 4 days, finishing 34th in the Silver class standings, 7 hours and 32 minutes behind his compatriot and class leader Sandon Kerswell. There were 82 riders in the Silver class, so the result for the second-generation racer is certainly positive: it was his debut on the treacherous Romanian terrain, which includes rocky trails, steep climbs, and tricky descents. Red Bull Romaniacs demands a great deal in terms of riding skills, physical endurance, and mental strength. Testing yourself in this hard enduro race isn’t for everyone.

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