A sixth place finish in Race 1൩ was backed up by P4 in the Superpole Race at Portimao, however, the Australian felt as though he coul🥂d have achieved more.

A technical issue meant Gardner had 💙to retire from Race 2 anyways, but the GRT Yamaha rider says he must find more performance when the tyres are new.

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"It had been really great, up until Race 2," ♛;sa𒅌id the former MotoGP rider. "I started ninth in the Superpole Race, and I knew we could have a good race. 

"We h🌠ad our lap time deleted in Superpole so I knew I could go forward. I had a really good last two laps, fighting it out with Michael and Iker. 

"I managed to get a good fourth and I was quite happy with that. I used that as a springboard into Race 2 and I was into third for a bit, but I was honestly missing a little 🅘bit of pace when the tyre was newer. 

"The guys did get away from me a little bit.𒈔 I started getting back in my rhythm and started closing up onꦓ Iker quite a lot. 

"I think I could’ve had a really good pace towards the end of the race but not even halfway through, we had a little bit of a technical problem and I had toꦐ retire from the race unfortunately. 

"It’s an unfortunate way to en🍌d but a positive weekend overall."

Although he failed to finish the last race of the weekend, Gardner was again head a♐nd shoulders above teammate Dominique Aegerter. 

Aeg🌌erter’s best result was P8 in Race 2 after finishing 14th in the first two races of the weekend. As a result of his poor run of form, Aegerter has now lost P10 in the championship to Gardner 🤡by one point.

Speaking after Sunday’s Race 2, Aegerter said: "In the Warm U𒁃p we made a good step forward and then in the Superpole Race I was improving my feeling once more, but unfortunately ten laps weren’t enough to fully show my p💮otential. 

"Then, in the second race, I could enjoy a good ride showing grea꧋t pace towards the end. 

"I tried to🃏 go for P6, but I went wide and dropped to P8 at the end, which is a bit of a shame, b🐟ut the performance is there. 

"I’d like to thank the team for their efforts, it wasn’t just about myself. I’m always ask🐟ing a lot from the team, and they always deliver, so I wanted to give them something back today.

"I’ll enjoy a bit of recovery time as I still have some pain i🎃n my elbow and shoulder, and then I’ll be 100% ready for the season finale."