It was never supposed to be like this. Having suffered last year a season of mediocre riders Tech 3 KTM were getting the Moto2 champion and runner-up for 2022. Remi Gardner and Raul Fernandez were a class apart in Moto2 leaving us all modestly excited at the prospect of them pushing for podiums in MotoGP.
But Tech3 success this season has been thinner than a Scotsman’s pockets. Worse still both Tech 3 riders have publicly taken epic beefs with KTM and created so much bad press that KTM themselves have had to artificially rebrand the Tech 3 team “GasGas” for next season in the hope that everyone will forget.
But which rider hates KTM the most? Let’s find out!
Raul Fernandez
One look at Raul and you can tell he’s probably a bit of an unpleasant person. His one cheery thought is almost certainly still bouncing around in his head like a DVD screensaver.
But Fernandez does have a good reason to have a face like a smashed crab as the Spaniard never wanted to move to MotoGP. Raul was in his rookie Moto2 season last year and came within a gnat’s cock hair of taking the title from his far more experienced teammate Remi Gardner.
Understandably Fernandez wanted to remain in Moto2 given his success in his rookie season but KTM had other ideas. The Austrian clan were keen to get another sour-faced Spaniard, this time in the guise of Pedro Acosta, onto their Moto2 bike so therefore forced Raul into MotoGP.
Fernandez took his already woebegone boat-race a step lower once he’d been deposited in the Tech 3 garage. But the sneaky Spaniard had a plan about what he’d do in MotoGP – as little as possible.
The forlorn rider didn’t really try. And when he did he usually fell off. After slightly injuring his wrist in one race Fernandez claimed he was too injured to ride. Which tended to annoy everyone in his team. Better still, a few races later, when Tech 3 asked the medical centre if their rider was able to ride they said Raul only needed to do one push up. Easy. But no. Instead Fernandez didn’t even try claiming it was too hard which left team boss Herve Poncharal steaming at the gills.
KTM have Fernandez tied in to a 2-year deal. But if Zarco has taught them anything it’s that seeing a grown man cry is mentally damaging for all the team. So, despite his contract, it looks like Raul will be moving to the satellite Aprilia team next season.
Smiles all round then?
Remi Gardner
Unlike Fernandez (and the odd woman down the street) Remi doesn’t like to air his dirty laundry in public. Instead Gardner likes to give the impression he’s a cool dude surfer who takes everything easy. Obviously, that’s probably not the case – it’s likely he’s never seen a surfboard in real life and has instead had to put up with his dad yelling at him about how good he was and how much harder it was back in his day.
But, unlike his teammate, the Australian does seem to be a likeable sort of person. Just ask ex-MotoGP commentator Keith Huewen who would spend a majority of any race Remi was in screaming his name at the top of his lungs to the point that it invalidated the speaker warranty on your TV.
So Gardner’s the type of rider to keep his grumbles to himself and try to put on a positive face. But 2022 with Tech3 KTM has proven too much.
Like his teammate the Australian has had a terrible season. Frequent crashes and painfully off the pace at all circuits was certainly not what Remi, or any of us, expected. There were rumours of unrest within the team and the suggestion that contractually obliged Gardner also wanted out.
Last week in Austria, however, proved to be the breaking point where Remi briefly but finally spoke out:
“It’s not [looking good for next year]. In MotoGP it doesn’t look like there’s anything. KTM has done it again.”
Oh dear. Does the fact the Australian has now spoken to the media about his loathing of KTM mean he actually hates KTM more than his teammate?