Scott Redding

Scott Redding made his MotoGP debut on a Honda RCV1000R in 2014 as the youngest-ever grand prix winner courtesy of victory in his home 125cc grand prix at Donington Park, aged 15 years and 170 days.

Since that classic 2008 afternoon, Redding has grown in stature, and not only as a rider. His height and weight (185cm and 70kg) were a serious disadvantage in the Moto2 class, where all bikes use identical race-prepared Honda CBR600 engines. Only when a new combined bike-and-rider minimum weight was introduced in 2013 could he come closer to his full potential.

He did so by leading the World Championship, only giving way to eventual winner Pol Espargaro after two unlucky crashes in the closing rounds.

Redding started racing aged eight, in the British Minimoto championship in 2001. In 2004 he won the British MiniGP championship, as well as the 80cc Spanish Calypso Cup series. Talent-spotted for the Red Bull MotoGP Academy, he moved to 125cc GP-style bikes; and he was second in the 2007 national Spanish CEV championship, winning the last three races.

Scott moved straight into GPs, and took that classic first-season race win, finishing 11th overall at his first attempt.

After one more year, Redding moved to the new Moto2 class, claiming two rostrum finishes, but already suffering from higher tyre wear and a lower top speed than his rivals. Even so he was eighth overall, and fifth two years later, after a crucial switch from a Suter to a Kalex chassis.

Although once second and three times third in 2012, he had yet to win a race. That changed in 2013, when the new bike-rider weight limit went some way to redressing his problems. After two second places from the opening three races, Redding took the fourth and fifth round race wins in France and Italy, building up a strong overall lead on points.

He defended that lead with four more visits to the podium, including another wildly popular home race win in the British GP at Silverstone. Then he broke his wrist in a high-speed crash in practice for the Australian GP. He returned bravely after corrective surgery to fight on just one week later at Motegi in Japan, only to fall innocent victim to another rider’s mistake in a first-lap melee. He crashed heavily, and this time was unable to take part in the restart, ending his hopes of preventing Pol Espargaro clinching the crown.

Both moved to MotoGP the following season, but while Espargaro was on a factory class M1 at the Tech 3 team, Redding was on the uncompetitive open class Honda at Gresini.

Adapting to MotoGP with aplomb, Redding extracted the maximum out of the Gresini machine in 2014 despite its evident limitations, failing to score just twice and reaching as high as seventh on two occasions. Comfortably the fastest Honda production rider in 2014, against some experienced opposition, the more telling result is the fact he finished just a few points shy of team-mate Alvaro Bautista on the full factory-specification Honda.

With the promising first season of MotoGP under his belt, much was expected of Redding as he switched from open machinery to a full specification Honda under the guidance of his former Moto2 team, Marc VDS.

However, the Englishman’s failure to ever get to grips with the RC213V left him floundering relative to key rival Cal Crutchlow and top ten finishes were hard to come by. An against-the-grain maiden podium in Misano will give Redding reason to remember the 2015 season, but 13th overall with almost the same points as he managed on an ‘open’ Honda in 2014 will want to be forgotten quickly.

A switch to Pramac Ducati for the 2016-17 seasons brought with it improved results, especially in his first season as he matched the third place of Misano during a wet Dutch Grand Prix. 

Redding would go on to take a total of 12 top ten results during his two years at Ducati which includes the above-mentioned Assen podium, however, a switch to Aprilia in 2018 was a step in the wrong direction as he failed to claim a top ten in any of the 18 races. 

With Aprilia signing Andrea Iannone for the 2019 season alongside Aleix Espargaro, Redding quickly saw his aspirations of staying in MotoGP dashed. Instead, the Brit made a surprising switch to BSB in the hope of putting his name in contention for a 2020 WorldSBK ride.

Redding joined Paul Brid’s Visiontrack Ducati team as he went on to claim 11 wins and the title ahead of team-mate Josh Brookes. 

As expected, Redding’s performances paved the way for a switch to the Aruba.it Ducati team alongside Chaz Davies. With the Italian manufacturer looking for a first WorldSBK title since Carlos Checa in 2011, Redding pushed six-time series champion Jonathan Rea as hard as any rider has in all of his title winning seasons with Kawasaki, however, it wasn’t enough to win the championship. Redding finished 55 points behind Rea

In 2021 Redding bettered his rookie season in terms of wins, podiums, pole positions and points finishes, but with Rea and new WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu being at the very top of their game, Redding had to settle for third in the championship, this time 63 points away from the title. 

From round six (Autodrom Most) onwards Redding was just as good as Razgatlioglu and Rea, in fact, he claimed the same amount of wins as Rea (5), but it was early season mistakes both on-track and regarding race strategy that cost Redding dearly. 

For 2022 Redding has decided to leave Ducati and instead replace Tom Sykes at BMW. While it’s a move that in the future could prove a very good one due to BMW making significant steps forward with their M 1000 RR machine, it’s also a move that most likely won’t see Redding fighting for the title in his first season as Yamaha, Kawasaki and Ducati all had a better and more consistent package last year.

Following a dreadful opening round in Aragon, Redding and BMW made clear steps forward as they began challenging for podiums at Donington Park and Most. Redding ended the season as the best BMW rider, although the progress that seemed to be made mid-season failed to translate into similar results come the final few rounds.