The GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team completed the opening day of action at the Misano World Circuit for Round 7 of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship, with Remy Gardner and Stefano Manzi focusing on race preparation throughout Friday’s two free practice sessions. The pair ended the day 13th and 14th respectively on the combined timesheets.

Gardner enjoyed a solid start to the weekend in Free Practice 1. Together with his crew, the Australian concentrated on race setup and tyre evaluation during the 45-minute session, making encouraging progress on used tyres towards the end. He finished the morning in 10th position with a best lap of 1’33.679. The afternoon followed a similar programme, with the 28-year-old continuing to evaluate race options ahead of the weekend’s races. Despite focusing primarily on long-run performance rather than outright lap times, Gardner improved his lap time to a 1’33.564, ending the day 13th overall.

For local hero Manzi, Friday began with a challenging Free Practice 1 as he worked to regain confidence and improve grip levels. The reigning WorldSSP Champion completed the morning session in 16th place with a best lap of 1’34.106, making progress during the latter stages. Conditions improved in the afternoon and the Italian rider was able to make a significant step forward. Prioritising race pace and setup work over time attacks, Manzi showed encouraging consistency throughout the session and concluded the day in 14th position.

Both riders will return to the track on Saturday for Free Practice 3 at 09:40 local time, followed by Superpole at 11:15 and Race 1 at 15:30.

Remy Gardner: P13 (1’33.564)
"It was a decent day overall and, importantly, the feeling was very similar to what we had during the test a few weeks ago, which is encouraging. We still need to find a bit more speed, but it wasn’t a bad start to the weekend. Of course, the final position isn’t where we want to be, but we know there’s room for improvement. We’ll keep working hard to make another step forward because the field is incredibly close and every tenth of a second can make a big difference."

Stefano Manzi: P14 (1’34.600)
"Overall, I’d say it was a productive Friday, especially considering how difficult the morning session was for us. It took some time to regain a good feeling with the bike, but in the afternoon we managed to make progress and improve our consistency. We know there’s still work to do and that we need to find more performance, but I’m confident we can achieve that. We’ll keep working hard and do everything we can to enjoy our home round and be competitive over the rest of the weekend. Let’s stay positive and keep pushing because we still have two important days ahead of us."