Freddie Spencer
Gardner's performance earned him full support in 1986 from the Honda-HRC factory racing team alongside teammate Freddie Spencer. He won his first Grand Prix race at the Spanish Grand Prix, before going on to win two more races and finish second in the championship behind Eddie Lawson. In 1987, Gardner became the first Australian to win the 500 cc World Championship, winning seven of sixteen races and wrapping up the title with a win in the penultimate round in Brazil at Goiânia. Gardner's race engineer in 1987 was fellow Australian Jeremy Burgess who had previously worked with 1985 World Champion Freddie Spencer.