Yamaha will field Australia’s Remy Gardner in his third appearance of the 2024 MotoGP season as a wildcard in Japan next weekend.

Gardner will form part of the Yamaha Factory Racing Team – in Monster Energy Yamaha colours – at Motegi, adding to his German and British GP starts.

“I am really excited to race in Japan,” Gardner said. “It’s a country I always enjoyed visiting in grand prix racing, but to go to Japan and race for a Japanese manufacturer in MotoGP in front of the Japanese fans will be something special. It is nice that, after Sachsenring and Silverstone, Yamaha have asked me to come back.

“They clearly feel that I bring something to the development program, so hopefully we can have a productive weekend in Motegi too. It will be a busy period for me with five races in five weeks, but I ride bikes almost every weekend anyway, so it’s nothing new for me!”

Gardner is on track at Aragon this weekend for round 10 of the Motul Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) season, recording a 16th-place result in race one on Saturday with his usual GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team.

“Bike development is at the heart of Yamaha’s every move this year,” explained Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team leader Kazutoshi Seki. “The engineers are working very hard and I am fully convinced that this wildcard entry will accelerate Yamaha’s endeavours to develop prototype parts and increase bike performance.

“Remy Gardner has already successfully tested protype items for the M1 on two occasions earlier this year, so his prior experience makes him a logical choice in Cal Crutchlow’s absence due to injury.”