Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing) broke back into the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship title contender conversation in the season opening Australian Round. Redding finished the weekend in 5^th place in the Riders’ Championship standings, elevated to that position thanks to his fourth place finishes in Race 1 and the Tissot Superpole Race, and a fifth-place finish in the weekend-concluding Race 2

Redding has raced with Ducati in the past, from his rookie WorldSBK season in 2020 through 2021 he raced with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati factory team. In only his rookie season, he was the Riders’ Championship runner-up, second only to Jonathan Rea, at the time riding with Kawasaki and claimed his most recent of his six World Championships. He followed up his breakout rookie season, in which he won five races and earned 14 podium appearances with an even stronger sophomore season, earning 7 wins and 23 podium appearances, only to see himself fall to third in the Riders’ Championship final tally, behind Rea again, and Behind Toprak Razgatlioglu, who lifted his first ever World Championship trophy.

After 2021, Redding spent three years atop a BMW, where he struggled to replicate the same results as before, and in the 2024 offseason, it was announced that his team would be changing to work with Ducati, spelling a return for Redding to the Italian bike. Since then, Redding has looked fast, and his pair of fourth place finishes attest to that.

On his Australian debut back atop a Panigale V4R, Redding said: “My Sunday was good, I really wanted that podium so bad, in the Superpole Race I was also battling with Danilo [Petrucci] but I’m still just learning a few things on the bike with the used tyres, and also with the electronics and the bike setup because honestly we only really started to feel good with the bike here in testing, it was the only time we made progress with the bike. Now we’re learning a lot and it’s fantastic being back at the front and overtaking guys, being where I feel I should be. I had a lot of fun, in the second race I said ok, find the yellow bike or the red bike and use everything to stay after them. I had a great start, I was right on both of them and said ok, don’t let go, but they were just faster than me, I was riding at 105%, and they looked like they were relatively comfortable. I did the best I could do, and walking away with three top fives, I’m happy with that.”

There is plenty to be happy about for Redding and his MGM Bonovo Racing team, having undertaken a big move to change to Ducati machinery was not a simple move, and it would seem the British rider had that pressure weighting on his mind before lights out in Race 1, but #45 settled in and found his comfort with the setup. Reflecting on his weekend, and everything that has unfolded this last offseason to get him here, Redding was forthcoming about his own questions.

“I think it was a mega first weekend, of course I want to be fighting for the podium, I just didn’t end up on the podium, but that wasn’t for a lack of trying or giving my all because I did everything I could,” said Redding. “I think me and the team need to learn a little bit still but the team have been amazing, I have had so much fun with them this whole week of racing, on and off the track. It would have been nice to be on the podium, my plan of 5^th, 4^th, then 3^rd to be the comeback kid but I just didn’t quite have it today but its good for me to know that I’m capable of running in the top 5 again in WorldSBK because after three difficult years I questioned myself for sure, I think its normal for every rider to have that question mark of ‘do I still have it’ so I was a bit nervous because we made a big plan to have Ducati in this team, and I’ve been working hard, my management has been working hard, the team has been working hard to find the funding to even make this happen. So there was a lot of pressure on my shoulders, so Race 1 I was sort of shaking in my boots as we say,but then I got the rhythm, built my confidence, and now I’m looking forward to this season.”

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