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"Didn’t have the grip to progress " – Redding explains what went wrong on Saturday in France

Saturday, 4 September 2021 13:27 GMT

    • After claiming eighth place in Tissot Superpole, Redding would have hoped for more after falling down to 12th in Race 1

    Having come into the Motul French Round just 38 points behind in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship standings, Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) would have hoped he could have closed that at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, a circuit he won at in 2020 in his rookie season, but Race 1 for the Motul French Round proved to be a difficult affair for Redding.

    While Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) won the race and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed second, with the pair making up the top two in the Championship, Redding was only able to finish in 12th place after a challenging Race 1 where he started in eighth place and unable to make up places throughout the 21-lap encounter.

    The British rider, who is now 59 points behind Razgatlioglu in the standings, had a crash in Race 1 at Turn 13, on Lap 19 of 21, as he looked to make a move on Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and limit the damage to the points in the standings. He bounced back from this to come home in 12th and claim four points which could prove vital as the season progresses.

    Explaining his day, the reasons behind it and the potential solutions, Redding said: “It was a tough race for me, to be honest. I just didn’t have the grip underneath me to make progress or move forward. I was battling, making a lot of mistakes. It was just one of those races. I thought if I could get to the front of the group, I could accept it. I crashed trying, I didn’t feel good on the bike, but I tried anyway. There wasn’t really much to gain or much to lose at that point. The track temperature went up. We know we have this problem sometimes. Normally with Superpole we can improve that a little, but I had no grip with the Q tyre and then for the race the temperature was hot. If I could get the temperature down, that would help us a lot! That’s probably not going to happen, so I need to get a good start because the bike is not terrible, it’s just not great. It’s not a podium finishing bike in those conditions for me. I just need to figure out how to ride the bike a little bit better and not make mistakes.”

    Follow all the action from Sunday at Magny-Cours using the WorldSBK VideoPass!