Source: Supplied.

Youthful Australian Remy Gardner has kickstarted his 2018 Moto2 World Championship campaign on a positive note, charging to 12th position at the weekend’s first round in Qatar.

Starting 12th on the grid, Gardner dropped multiple positions after a costly mistake in turn one, however he was able to regain them before the chequered flag, taking home four championship points.

The Tech3 Racing rider says his performance was much stronger than last years, although he felt he had the pace to be running well inside the top 10.

“It was a decent race,” said Gardner. “I made a mistake at turn one after a good start which lost me a lot of ground. I dropped to 16th but just got my head down and was able to take 12th on the line.

“Compared to last year we are already much stronger and after those early laps before the mistake I felt confident and really thought I could run with the top six group. I think we had the pace for at least the top 10 today but we have made a lot of progress and I am already looking forward to Argentina.”

The Moto2 contingent will now travel to Argentina for the second round of the series, scheduled for 8 April at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit.