Scott Redding: ‘I really want to start winning races again’

An early contender in Race 2 after making his way up from sixth to second by the end of lap two, Scott Redding faded just as quickly as he was eventually pushed back down to P6, the position he finished the final WorldSBK race of 2022 in.

Robert Jones

20 Nov 2022

Scott Redding, BMW WorldSBK Phillip Island

Redding was able to pressure race leader Jonathan Rea and even looked set to take the lead on the rundown to turn one, however, the 2020 WorldSBK runner-up soon ran out of grip compared to his competitors, which put him back into the clutches of Andrea Locatelli.

While Redding faced very little pressure from behind during the closing stages, the BMW rider was not content with where he finished.

Keen to be back fighting at the front on a consistent basis, Redding said: "It is what it is. We just do what we do. I race to have the best race I can every race.

"It’ll be nice if we can make some steps for next year, because I really want to start to challenge for more podiums and try to start winning races again."

From a personal point of view Redding was left wanting more from Race 2 in Phillip Island, however, his P6 finish was an important one in the context of the Manufacturers’ standings.

With Team HRC riders Tetsuta Nagashima finishing ninth and Xavi Vierge unable to score following a lap-one crash, Redding’s result was enough for BMW to jump ahead of Honda by one point.

Redding set up his strong Race 2 result by making a late call to pit on the formation lap of the Superpole Race, as he joined eventual race winner Alvaro Bautista in switching to dry tyres despite the circuit remaining wet.

Scott Redding , Race 1, Australian WorldSBK, 19 November

"In the Superpole Race, I was thinking on the grid everyone’s going to be on rain tyres, I’m going to come in on the warm up lap and put the intermediates and that’ll be the key," added Redding.

"They pulled the tyre warmers off and I saw everybody with intermediates and Alvaro with the slicks.

"Now I need to go into the pit lane and go with the same tyres they have. I opted for the front intermediate which helped me.

"I started from pit lane and, with nothing to lose, put my head down. I was picking people off and coming through. It set me up for Race 2 to start from the second row."

The next best BMW rider was Loris Baz as the Frenchman finished tenth, while Redding’s team-mate Michael Van Der Mark was 12th. A crash with five laps to go for Eugene Laverty put an end to his final WorldSBK race whilst also bringing out a race-ending red flag.