Termas de Río Hondo, Argentina – 16 April 2015: Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Scott Redding made a positive start to the Termas de Río Hondo MotoGP weekend in Argentina today, the British rider comfortably lapping inside the top 10 in both practice sessions.
 
On a dirty and slippery surface this morning, Redding set the fifth fastest time, and the 22-year-old slashed almost two seconds off his best lap time with more grip and a cleaner racing line in FP2.
 
Redding ended the day in eighth position, but the most encouraging and impressive aspect of his performance was that his best lap of 1.39.892 this afternoon was set on Bridgestone’s extra hard compound rear tyre.
 
The new extra hard has been added to the 2015 tyre allocation by Bridgestone specifically to cope with the high speed and high abrasion experienced at the fast and flowing Termas de Río Hondo track.
 
All of the seven riders that finished in front of Redding today set their best times on softer compound rubber.
 
Scott Redding: 8th – 1’39.892
“I am happy with how today went. We found a good setting with the bike in Texas and I have hardly changed it here because I want to learn the bike more while I have such a good feeling with it. The track wasn’t in great condition this morning and it was tough to make a good lap time, but we made some progress with the rear pumping on the brakes. I’m happy to set my best time on the extra hard tyre and right now I think that will be my race choice. I can’t tell much difference in performance with the hard option we can use and the extra hard will certainly have better durability for the race.”
 
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“I am really pleased to see Scott inside the top 10 in both practice sessions today because it confirms the good work his crew did in making him more comfortable and confident on the bike in Austin. It was hard to learn too much this morning but I am satisfied with Scott’s pace on the extra hard tyre. This track is so fast in sections like turn six and eleven and the surface is quite abrasive, so the extra hard could be the best option for the race and Scott has already shown good pace on it.”