Poor points haul for Scott after tough battle in Portimao
Scott Redding and MGM Bonovo Racing were rewarded with just one point at the end of the second WorldSBK race weekend.
After a brilliant start to the year for MGM Bonovo Racing in Australia, the team encountered some difficulties this weekend at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Although team and team rider Scott Redding gave their all, unfortunately, only one point in the World Superbike championship was awarded for their hard efforts on Sunday.
After a collision, Scott was forced to retire early from the first race on Saturday but returned with renewed motivation on Sunday. Starting from 15th on the grid, he gained one position in the opening laps of this morning’s Superpole Race but was forced to relinquish it after seven laps. The British rider was at least able to defend his starting position with a 15th place finish after 10 laps.
Scott didn’t get off to a good start in the second main race but was initially able to hold on to his 15th position. However, the 32-year-old made significant gains in the opening laps, climbing to 12th place by lap five. He then struggled with technical difficulties and fell back, heading into the pit lane after lap nine. A red flag benefited MGM Bonovo Racing, allowing the crew to work on Scott’s Ducati Panigale V4 R before the race got restarted. Starting from 16th place, he gritted his teeth over the eleven laps of the restarted race and finished 15th, earning at least one point.
The MGM Bonovo Racing team is now trying to put the difficult chapter of the second round in Portugal behind it as quickly as possible and is already looking ahead to the third race weekend, which begins in less than two weeks at the legendary TT Circuit in Assen, Netherlands.
#45 Scott REDDING
Grid position 15 / Superpole Race: P15 / Grid position 20 / Race 2: P15«It has been a difficult Sunday. We had quite a difficult weekend in general, a little bit lucky in a couple of situations. But today we struggled a bit with I don’t know if it was the bike or the tyre, but after like three to five laps I just lost all the rear grip on the bike. We need to understand why and how that happened and then re-evaluate for Assen because this was a bit of a disaster this weekend. This was not what we expected, and this is not where we need to be. We need to come back in Assen.»