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From Saturday disaster to Sunday podium: Redding explains sensational turnaround

Monday, 6 September 2021 08:31 GMT

    • Scott Redding could only manage 12th in Race 1 but turned it around to secure a podium in Sunday’s Race 2

    The Motul French Round for Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was one that the British will remember after undoing his hard work over the three rounds prior as he cut the gap in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship standings from 81 points to 38. Saturday at the Circuit de Nevers-Magny proved to be Redding’s downfall with a 12th place, while he responded on Sunday to take sixth in the Tissot Superpole Race and third in Race 2 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.

    Redding started Saturday morning by going fastest in Free Practice 3 but was unable to convert this into a front row starting spot, as he could only manage eighth place on the grid after the Tissot Superpole Session. Redding was battling in the group for a place in the top ten but fell off his Ducati Panigale V4 R at Turn 15 as he looked to make a move on Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) with Redding ended the race in 12th place.

    Starting again from eighth in the Superpole Race, Redding this time was able to move up to sixth and secure a second row start for Race 2. A good start as the lights went out propelled him into the early battle for first place, before he settled for third place and his first podium of the weekend. He was still behind Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in all three races, meaning he is now 72 points behind Razgatlioglu and 65 behind Rea.

    Explaining what he found between Saturday and Sunday, Redding said: “We improved the bike a little bit with the braking. That was my main problem. I said to the guys to get the bike to stop, I think I can finish on the podium and that’s important for us here. This is a damage limitation situation. At the start, I felt good. I felt good behind those two and thought ‘not bad!’. Every time I exited Turn 5, we had no acceleration and they put easily two tenths of a second on me and I needed to try and recover. We’re missing acceleration mainly, and a little bit of grip in hot conditions. It was not bad, just acceleration. It was very physical, the bike is very difficult to ride at this circuit, a very heavy feeling so it’s very demanding.”

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