A sixth place finish in Raᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚce 1 was backed up by P4 in the Superpole Race at Portimao, however, the Australian felt as though he could have ach🧸ieved more.

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

• Rinaldi: ‘Someone proposed a contract t🌳o me without a salary’ 
• Rea𝓀: ‘I saw my la♏st chance to win with Kawasaki’ at Portimao

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

"We had our lap time deleted in Superpole so I knew I coul🅠d go forward. I had a really good last t🍷wo 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 springboarꦉd 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. I started💯 getting back in my rhythm and starte🧸d closing up on Iker quite a lot. 

"I think I coul🌞d🅺’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 to retire from the race unfortunately. 

"Iཧt’s an unfortunatꦑe way to end but a positive weekend overall."

Although he failed to finish the last race of the weekend, Gardner was again head and sh🎉oulders above teammate Dominique Aegerter. 

Aegerter’s best result was P8 in Race 2 after finishing 14tꦐh 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 Up 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 potential. 

"Then, in the second race, I could 🌜enjoy a good ride ✃showing great pace towards the end. 

"I tried to go fo🍃r P6, but I went wide and dropped to P8 at the end, which is a bit of a shame, but the performan♎ce is there. 

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

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