The 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign has been a challenging season for Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) so far, finishing in the top ten only twice prior to the Prosecco DOC UK Round. A retirement in Race 1 when running in the top five started the Donington Park visit with more difficulties, but it was a Sunday to remember as he secured two fourth place finishes to comfortably take his best results of the season.
In Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session, Redding put his M 1000 RR machine onto the front row and was under the existing lap record although he did have a huge margin to polesitter Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) after the Turkish star’s stunning lap time. A technical issue forced him out of Race 1, but Redding was able to convert his front-row start to P4 in the Superpole Race before finishing in the same position in the 23-lap Race 2 later that afternoon to complete his best weekend of the season.
Summing up Sunday, Redding said: “First of all, I’m just happy with how the weekend’s gone and finished up. I’ve gained a lot of confidence. It was a big change for a race weekend. The Superpole Race was not good, not bad. I’m still happy! To finish fourth in a Superpole Race, if you told me that in the last three rounds, I’d have ripped your arm off! I’m not fully happy because I feel like I could’ve had that podium. I just messed the start up a little bit. I felt they were holding the lights a little bit longer than we’re used to, so the hand was definitely trying to go. I didn’t get such a good start and then you’re a little bit in the mix and then I lost that group. I was slowly starting Jonathan a little bit and I thought if I was closer, the potential was there. I’m still happy with the fourth and actually in the race.
“In Race 2, I got a great start and battled my way through a little bit. I felt really good, trying to stay calm. I didn’t want to do anything silly as I wasn’t going to beat the first two guys, so I just stayed in my position. Alex passed me and I was staying there and felt pretty good, but I was struggling with the front brake. I had to adjust it something like five times per lap and I was suffering a little bit with arm pump. I was kind of riding with one arm and trying to manage the gaps. I made a small mistake. It was quite intense because I was having a good weekend and I wanted to finish strongly. I had the pressure of Alvaro behind; the gap was coming down and he’s normally quite fast at the end of the race. I had a lot of stress, but it was definitely worthwhile! For me the biggest thing was building confidence this weekend, telling myself, ‘You can do it’, and proving to myself I can do it. Not riding at the front is mentally different compared to when you’re riding in 15th position and that was probably the hardest thing, fighting with myself to stay calm and not make mistakes and I felt I did good. Hopefully, being at the front here on in a bit more, it’ll come back to me.”
WorldSBK is back in action this week as the 2024 campaign reaches the halfway point at the Autodrom Most, a circuit Redding and BMW have gone well at before. He won there in 2021 when with Ducati while claiming a podium in Race 1 in 2022 for BMW. He’s only been outside the top ten once in the Czech Republic, which will give the 12-time race winner hope he can fight at the front once again on his M 1000 RR.
Previewing the Czech Round, Redding said: “I’m excited just at the fact I feel like we have made a step with the bike settings. We’re still not where I feel we need to be for me but we are going in a good direction where I feel positive, and the results also show that’s a big factor. Going to Most, somewhere I’ve enjoyed a lot in the past, and the BMW goes well there, I’ll be looking to try and stay on this form there.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com