Redding sends a message with classy Jerez WorldSBK win over Rea

WorldSBK Jerez - Race Results (1)

Scott Redding has notched up his maiden WorldSBK Championship victory at only the second time of asking with a classy performance that further elevates his status as a title contender in 2020.

Starting from his first international WorldSBK pole position since 2013, the Ducati rider can now add WorldSBK win to his achievements, again his first on the world stage since 2013 when he triumphed at the Silverstone Moto2 race.

He was made to work hard for it though, the effectiveness of his landmark pole position unravelled by a scruffy get away that promoted Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgtalioglu ahead of him.

From here the top four, including Loris Baz, splintered away from front row starter Tom Sykes – who’d pull in after a handful of laps with technical issues anyway – and formed a runaway lead group that circulated in tandem for the majority of the race.

With nine laps remaining, Redding began to make his move, neatly dispatching Razgatlioglu to assume second position before latching onto the tail of Rea’s Kawasaki.

While Rea looked to be controlling the pace out front, Redding was clearly biding his time as he shadowed the Ulsterman ahead with seemingly plenty of pace to spare.

The ex-MotoGP rider strike for the lead came with six laps to go with an similar pass into turn six, though this time Redding would intentionally run it past well beyond the apex of the right-hander, forcing Rea on his outside to sit up and wait out it out wide before the Briton accelerated.

A rude if tactically astute manoeuvre, it will certainly send out a message to the five-time World Champion.

From here, Redding was unchallenged to eke out his advantage to just over a second by the chequered flag, a win that now earns him the lead of the WorldSBK standings after four races.

Rea settled for second position, resisting the attentions of Razgatlioglu, who in turn came under pressure late on from a charging Chaz Davies, the Welshman steadily working his way back into the lead group to overtake Baz for fourth position.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi secured a strong finish for the Go Eleven Ducati team in sixth position, ahead of top Honda rider Alvaro Bautista and erstwhile championship leader Alex Lowes, the Kawasaki man making fairly modest progress from his 14th place starting position.

Leon Haslam completed the top ten on the second of the new Hondas, ahead of Garrett Gerloff, who scored for GRT Yamaha after team-mate Federico Caricasulo crashed out early.

Christophe Ponsson performed well on the first Aprilia outing since 2018 with a run to 12th on the Nuova M2 Racing RSV4, ahead of Xavi Fores, Sandro Cortese and Eugene Laverty, the latter dropping back after an issue on track on a dismal day for BMW.

Elsewhere, Michael van der Mark ran inside the top ten until technical issues forced him out of contention.