Image: Brian Dyer.

Australian rising star Remy Gardner will continue to gain grand prix experience this weekend at Sepang in Malaysia, joining the factory-supported Team Calvo KTM squad in place of injured regular Eric Granado.

The 16-year-old, who was due to fly out of Melbourne last night to a CEV Repsol Championship team Calvo Laglisse test at Portimao, Portugal, has changed plans and is on his way to Kuala Lumpur this morning.

The news is a saving grace for the determined teenager, who had a brilliant Friday and Saturday at the Tissot Phillip Island Grand Prix, followed by a disastrous Sunday race.

Gardner’s bike stalled on the grid moments before the warm up lap commenced and with the field gone, Gardner could not get his KTM started. Unfortunately this resulted in a pit lane start, with more salt rubbed into the team’s wounds when the grid marshal failed to release Remy onto the circuit when the start lights were activated.

There was a 12-second delay before he was released, which grew to a 28-second gap between Gardner and last place by the time he entered the circuit proper.

“Obviously I was very upset but I could not change the situation,” Gardner said. “On the first lap I almost held it flat everywhere as I thought I had nothing to lose but once I calmed down I just tried to string laps together. It’s not possible to do a fast time on a Moto3 bike without some slipstream and I was circulating in 1m38s, a lot slower than my ideal time can be.

“Once I saw last place I had something to focus on and in the end, I passed a few riders but it was more of a race-long test for me than a race and still a good experience. Being held for so long in pit lane was a shame as I could have finished further up the field with that 12-second extra advantage.”

Gardner still impressed on the weekend regardless, showing maturity and proved he is a true talent, with some seriously fast lap times on Friday and Saturday in low 1m37s that had the Moto3 paddock talking.

Sepang is an all-new circuit for Gardner to learn when practice commences this Friday, when he will also be familiarising himself with a new bike in the up-spec Team Calvo KTM.