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Monster Energy Yamaha has drafted in GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team regular Remy Gardner to replace Alex Rins on the factory YZR-M1 alongside Fabio Quartararo for this weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

Gardner, 26, will temporarily stand in for Alex Rins – who is recovering from right wrist and ankle injuries sustained at Assen – and will make his first grand prix start since 2022.

The 2021 Moto2 world champion endured a challenging single MotoGP campaign that season, taking a best finish of 11th at Catalunya on his way to 23rd position in the final championship tally. He switched to the Motul Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) with Yamaha the following year.

“First of all, I hope Alex can have a fast recovery and I wish him the best,” Gardner commented. “I’m really excited about this challenge. I just want to say thank you so much to Yamaha for trusting me to ride this weekend – I will use it as a great experience to learn.

“It’s a new bike and coming back to MotoGP for one race is always a nice experience, so I’m looking forward to enjoying this weekend, and I’m just extremely happy for this opportunity. Once again a big thank you to Yamaha.”

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team manager Massimo Merigalli added: “We are thankful to Remy Gardner and the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK team that he can join us at the Sachsenring on such short notice. We are sure that this will be an interesting experience for him, but the team will do everything we can to make him feel welcome and supported throughout this weekend’s steep learning curve.”

Gardner has been going from strength-to-strength on the YZF-R1M in WorldSBK during 2024, currently seventh in the standings after achieving a breakout podium at Assen. He also impressed last time out at the Emilia-Romagna round with a front row start.