Cal Crutchlow Out of British MotoGP Wildcard

Yamaha has announced that its planned wildcard for Cal Crutchlow at the upcoming British MotoGP round has been taken up instead by Remy Gardner.

Crutchlow had a trio of wildcard rides announced earlier this year by Yamaha. The British rider was pencilled in for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, and San Marino Grand Prix at Misano, and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. A preseason hand injury for Crutchlow saw him undergo surgery which forced him out of the Italian race, and now complications in recovering from that surgery have forced the #35 to withdraw from the British GP, too.

Find all the latest MotoGP news on Visordown.

On the announcement of his withdrawal from the British Grand Prix, Crutchlow said: “Unfortunately, I am unable to attend my wildcard appearance at the British GP at Silverstone this year. I had surgery on my hand two months ago, and the recovery has not gone as expected at all, leading to a further surgery and complications.

“It is important to let my hand heal fully before trying to ride the MotoGP bike. I look forward to coming back and riding with my Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Test Team as soon as I can and continue our project to improve the current and next year’s package for the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team.

“This year we have seen some improvement already thanks to endless work from everyone at Yamaha and the team. I hope to watch an exciting British GP this year and that everyone has a great weekend!”

Unlike in Italy, Crutchlow will be replaced in Britain by Remy Gardner in between the Australian’s regular GRT Yamaha WorldSBK duties at Most (19-21 July) and Portimao (9-11 August). 

Gardner has come to Yamaha’s attention for MotoGP duties since his replacement of Alex Rins at the German Grand Prix just over one week ago following Rins’ broken leg at the Dutch TT one week previous. 

Yamaha says it expects Rins to be fit for Silverstone on 2-4 August, leaving Gardner open to replace Crutchlow instead.

At the same time, Yamaha will have two additional bikes next year with the Pramac team joining it in a satellite, or ‘second factory team’, role, yet currently has no riders confirmed to ride either of those two bikes in 2025. Fabio Di Giannantonio was reportedly one rider under consideration by Pramac and Yamaha, but he is now rumoured to be staying at the VR46 Ducati team with 2025-spec factory machinery. It seems within the realms of possibility that Yamaha was enthused by what it saw in Gardner at the German Grand Prix, and wants to continue its evaluation of the #87 for a potential 2025 ride at the British GP.

Ahead of his British Grand Prix wildcard, Gardner said: “First of all, I just want to say that I hope that Cal can get better soon. I saw him last week, and I hope he can get back to riding and help the MotoGP project along.

“Obviously, it’s a nice opportunity to get to ride the M1 again, so I’m really happy. Silverstone is a track I like, and hopefully, I can give some more important feedback to Yamaha and the team and continue to enjoy the moment. Thanks to everyone at Yamaha, and I’m looking forward to riding again.”