Scott Redding: “On Sunday there’ll be an announcement...”
The Englishman says his future plans should be officially announced on Sunday at this weekend’s Imola round, which coincides with the expiry date of an option in Redding's current BMW contract.
Redding, a former MotoGP podium finisher, took 12 WorldSBK race wins for Ducati in 2020 and 2021, then three podiums in his debut season for BMW.
But the M 1000 RR project has taken a step back this year, with Redding currently the top BMW rider in just 13th place in the world championship.
Nonetheless, the German factory has pulled off a major coup by signing former world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu from Yamaha for 2024.
That has put pressure on Redding and injured team-mate Michael van der Mark for the other ROKiT seat... Assuming Redding wants to stay and unless BMW expands to a three-rider team.
“I think on Sunday, there’ll be an announcement of where I’m going and what I’m doing for 2024,” Redding said on Thursday.
Marc VDS, a team Redding raced for in Moto2 and MotoGP, has just confirmed a WorldSBK entry with Sam Lowes and Ducati. However, Lowes said he will not have a team-mate in 2024.
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The former MotoGP podium finisher Redding heads into the historic Imola circuit having taken his best result of the season with fourth place last time at Donington Park.
“This is a place that I want to have fun at,” Redding said. “The track looks so iconic and there’s a lot of history here; I did a couple of laps with the bicycle last night and I had goosebumps.
“On a motorcycle could always be different but it just looks amazing. The trees, buildings, up and downs, I’m really excited to go and ride this track. It’d be nice if the bike was nice to me this weekend and I didn’t have to focus so much on the settings and I could just focus on riding the track.”
With van der Mark’s replacement Tom Sykes injured at Donington, Leon Haslam has been called up to ride alongside Redding this weekend.
