misano – Scott Redding #45

Intensive work at the Misano World Circuit for Scott Redding and Aruba.it Racing

After heavy fog prevented Scott Redding and Michael Rinaldi from taking to the track in the morning, weather conditions improved in the early afternoon, especially in terms of visibility, and the two riders climbed aboard their respective Ducati Panigale V4 R bikes for a fruitful session.

Both Redding and Rinaldi worked intensively with their crews, focusing on testing new software, suspension and clutch solutions.
The British rider completed 70 laps while the Italian, despite a crash without any particular consequences in the first part of the session, completed 52 laps.

The next stop for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team is set for 15 and 16 March, again at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, for another two days of private testing.

Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #45)
“It was the first day with the race bike in the 2021 season and for that, I’m very happy. Unfortunately, we couldn’t work all day because of the fog and honestly, the conditions weren’t ideal in the afternoon. But it was very important for the team to be back working together again”.

Scott to start Misano GP from the seventh row of the grid

Neither Scott Redding nor teammate Aleix Espargaró went through to the Q2 qualifying session and tomorrow the British rider will start from the seventh row in the race on the Misano track, the thirteenth round of the MotoGP Championship season.

The placement is the fruit of the results achieved in the first qualifying session, where Scott finished eleventh, twenty-first on the starting grid, with a time of 1’33.572.

SCOTT REDDING
“Today we have not been able to improve as much as we had hoped. “The cold that prevents me from breathing doesn’t help, especially in the afternoon the situation got much worse. We have to analyse the setup changes well to select a package with the best possible characteristics. It’s hard to make predictions for tomorrow, a lot will depend on the pace of the opponents”.

Scott takes 7th place in torrential conditions at Misano

Scott Redding’s (Octo Pramac Racing) first podium in the premier class came at Misano in 2015 – also a race affected by the weather – and the Brit was on top form once again at the San Marino GP this season, taking seventh in the torrential conditions.

But it was a challenging weekend and Redding says his focus was on surviving – keen to make sure the struggles don’t happen again in future.

Scott Redding, P7:
“I’m happy about the result. We struggled all weekend in the dry and I could only hope to get some rain and try to do the best I could. In Warm Up we struggled to get grip on the left-hand side of the tyre and we made some changes for the race, thinking we could make some improvement but actually it didn’t change a lot. I lost a lot of time in the left-handers and I tried to just be wise, stay on, get a rhythm, try not to crash ad see how I go. Every time I tried to go a bit faster, I had another big moment. So I was set in that range and I just kept my head, and thought ‘just keep this rhythm and if they come past, try to fight with them because you cannot make a step’. At one point I thought I could pass Zarco and go but that was the limit I had. I’m happy to finish where we did in the top ten but I’m not satisfied by the performance. I was just surviving. So I’m happy where I was but we need to find something if this happens again.”

Scott Redding finishes fifteenth at Misano

The weekend at the Misano circuit ends with the two riders of Octo Pramac Yakhnich that are able to gain some points, despite they had to overcome the difficulties found during the free practices and the qualifying.

Scott Redding’s start was pretty effective as he recovered three positions in the first few corners. On lap one, the British rider tried to push, registering some encouraging times.

But the feeling with the bike did not improved enough. Scott had the merit to continue to try and his performance have improved in the last part of the race. At that point, however, the gap was too far to recover any positions.

15th – Scott Redding
“It has been a very difficult weekend. Especially the beginning of the race was frustrating. We are supposed to be among the fastest, in particular in this circuit and, instead, I found it hard to take the slower ones. Every time I tried to overtake someone I could not keep the trajectory, I went wide and I was always rehearsed. It was difficult to find the time and the feeling to go on and get those in front of me. I am very sorry for the way things went.”

Source: Pramac