Aussie young gun Luca Gardner on his way to third at Calafat on Sunday.

Luca Gardner and his team Briefing Competició finished round three of the CMV on the third step of the podium this weekend at Circuit Calafat.

After combining results from two races held on Sunday, Luca was able to continue his run of podium finishes in the first three races of the season.

Luca and the team worked hard on Saturday to test a lot of different set ups and riding styles, and by the end of the day he had reduced his previous best time at Calafat by two seconds.

Sunday was a busy day with qualifying in the morning, followed by two races. He qualified third and made a blazing start in race one to take the lead into the first corner. He wasn’t able to hold onto the lead for long however, and ended up sitting in third.

Unfortunately he made a little mistake when the front of the bike slid from underneath him and he ran off the track but managed to keep it upright. He joined the circuit again in fourth, and that’s where he finished race.

“I was really upset with myself when I ran off the track,” Gardner said. “I knew it would be difficult to catch first place, but felt I could fight a bit with second, and at least finish in third, but it was good experience, and hopefully I’ll learn from the mistake.”

He was determined to improve his result in race two, and once again got a good start with the first three going into the first corner together, and Luca coming out on top to lead for the first half-lap.

Luca fought hard to stay in position but was overtaken and reduced to fourth before a red flag accident stopped the race on lap three. The race was restarted and again Luca got an incredible break from the line to lead the first lap of the race.

Once again he was caught on the second lap and relegated to third. Fighting hard to pull away from fourth throughout the race he finally took the chequered flag in third place, and set his fastest time of the weekend.

“I’d like to say congratulations to Gerard Riu Male who came first in both races, and Ryan Van de Lagemaat who was second in both races,” Luca added. “They did a really good job and I look forward to racing them again.”

“I was really proud of how Luca handled this weekend,” said his father, Wayne Gardner. “We did a lot of testing on Saturday and he just kept improving his times and working hard to get the bike right.

“Sunday was a big day with qualifying and two races and I think he did really well to finish on the podium again. This is his first full season of road racing, and the experience and confidence he’s building each race is really important.”

Keep up to date with Team Gardner racing, go to www.facebook.com/gardnerracing or www.teamgardnerracing.com.