Wayne Gardner began his career in 1977 at the age of 18 on a used 250cc machine in the Australian Championship. In his first race he finished second and a few weeks later he took his first victory at the Oran Park Raceway .
Gardner on Honda in Donington
1983 Gardner drove first races in the motorcycle world championship . On his debut in Assen, he collided with the reigning world champion Franco Uncini , who was on the track after a fall and was critically injured. 1984 was Gardner's first full season with the Rothmans - Honda team in the 500cc class. In the first race he finished fourth behind Freddie Spencer , Eddie Lawson and Raymond Roche . He celebrated his first victory in 1986 in Jarama . The following year Gardner won the world title with seven victories in 14 races . In 1986 and 1988 he was runner-up behind Eddie Lawson. He won a total of 18 races in the premier class, the last of which in 1992 in Donington .
Gardner won the 8-hour race from Suzuka in 1985, 1986, 1991 and 1992nd
After the 1992 season Gardner ended his active career on two wheels, but remained connected to the Grand Prix circus as a sponsor of young Australian drivers such as Daryl Beattie .
Immediately after his last World Championship race at the end of 1992, Gardner contested the DTM races at the Nürburgring and at the Hockenheimring in a Jägermeister BMW alongside Armin Hahne . Plans for a complete season in the following year failed due to internal disputes within the DTM. In 1993 Gardner then entered automobile racing with a Holden Commodore in the V8 supercar series. He won the support program for the Australian Grand Prix in his first year and came third in the Bathurst 1000km . In 1994 he founded his own team, Wayne Gardner Racing , and stayed with the racing series until 2000.
From 1996 to 2001 Gardner also drove in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship for Toyota , where he won a race in 1999 and 2001. In 1998 he competed with Didier de Radiguès and Philippe Gache in the Le Mans 24-hour race . The team qualified 26th and dropped out of the race on lap 155 due to engine problems. Since 2002, Gardner has been back in the saddle of racing motorcycles at the annual Revival Meeting in Goodwood every September .
In the summer of 2010, Gardner received heavy criticism for his demand that the Isle of Man TT motorcycle road race , which he described as a death trap , be banned immediately.
Gardner was already married once during his Grand Prix time and now has two sons with his long-time partner, whom he married on October 13, 2007 in their second marriage.