With all the drama in Race 1 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours during the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) delivered his best result of the 2022 campaign during the Pirelli French Round. The British rider claimed second spot in Race 1 to extend his run of top ten finishes for BMW, with the German manufacturer continuing to make strong progress with the development of the M1000RR machine.

Redding was able to take a front row start in Superpole as he lined up in third place, his best of the 2022 season and his first front row start since Mandalika in 2021. In Race 1, he was able to fight in the lead group and led for five laps during the race; the first time he has led a race since Mandalika last year in Race 2. Although he lost out to Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in the fight for the win, he was able to stick with the Ducati rider until the very closing stages of the race before dropping back to take second place.

Reflecting on his Race 1 result, Redding said: “It was a good day, Superpole was good. Once I got the front row, I was really happy with that. In the race, I got a good start and I felt strong. I thought ‘let’s go, let’s get stuck in from the start’. And then it just went wild for a few laps! I think I took the lead at some point, then Toprak then come past me, then Jonathan. Then they had a battle, I went back in front, and then Jonathan crashed. Then I was pushing again, tried to catch Toprak. I looked ahead and he was just bucking and bucking and bucking. I thought ‘what the hell is going on here?’.

“I found myself in the lead. I did what I could. I saw Alvaro catching me. I kind of expected it here, with the back straight it’s normal. I tried to fight with him as long as possible but at one point, when I gave him the back straight, I couldn’t fight with him. Then I just tried to keep the pressure on. He made a mistake. I tried to come back again. I’m happy. It would’ve been nice to have a second with the other two guys in the race. We have to take those opportunities when they come. I thought Saturday was going to be the first win, when I saw Alvaro coming, I thought ‘we’re in trouble’. There’s only so much we can do.”

Second place for Redding continues an excellent run of form for the 2020 WorldSBK runner-up, who has taken three podiums in three rounds but is also on a streak of 10 consecutive top-10 finishes; eight of which have been top-six. Recent results have moved BMW up in the Manufacturers’ Championship to fourth, ahead of Honda, while Redding is firmly in the battle for fourth in the Riders’ Championship. He is seventh in the standings on 145 points, trailing Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in fourth by 22 points.

Discussing how BMW have developed since Aragon, where Redding score just a single point across three races, he said: “From Aragon, we were really working and at Assen we found a direction; a lot of new parts. We worked day and night. We are working all the time, those guys day and night. We’re speaking a lot to develop. I get ideas, I throw them ideas in. We’ve bonded very well which is good. Now we have a bike that’s competitive and we’re just making smaller changes. This helps me because I know I’ve got a bike that can be competitive, but I know we need to find a little bit more too.”

Will Redding claim his first BMW win this season? Find out using the comprehensive WorldSBK VideoPass!