The Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding and Mika Kallio head to round five of the FIM Moto2 World Championship at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, Italy with confidence high, after an impressive one-two finish in Le Mans last time out.

Redding’s victory – his first in the Moto2 category and the Marc VDS Racing Team’s first win since entering the championship in 2010 – gave the 20-year-old Briton a 24 point lead in the championship standings.

With Kallio claiming second place at Le Mans, the Marc VDS Racing Team became the first team in Moto2 history to claim the two top spots on the podium. The last time one team dominated the intermediate class to such an extent was back in 2008, when Kallio took the win in China ahead of his KTM teammate, Hiroshi Aoyama.

Redding and Kallio are keen to repeat the success of Le Mans this weekend in Mugello, where both will run an experimental swinging arm on their Kalex Moto2 machines for the first time. The new swinging arm has been developed by the team in conjunction with Kalex and is designed to improve rear traction and reduce chattering.

After missing out on a points scoring finish by the narrowest of margins in the Moto3 race at Le Mans, Livio Loi head to Mugello determined to secure another top 15 finish. The 16-year-old Belgian struggled to make up ground after starting from 21st on the grid so will focus this weekend on improving his qualifying performance.

Scott Redding #45:
“While it was good to finally win in Le Mans, it changes nothing. Our approach will remain the same, with the championship being the priority. The win in Le Mans has given me a 24-point advantage in the standings but, as we’ve seen in the past, it only takes one bad weekend to see that lead reduced significantly. Like Le Mans last week, Mugello is a circuit I like racing at. We have some new parts for the bike this weekend, which I think may give us something of an advantage at such a fast, flowing and technical track.”

Mika Kallio #36:
“In Le Mans we went with a completely different set-up to that which we’d run previously and it took us until Sunday to refine it to the point where my feeling with the bike was good. It will be interesting to see how the feeling is on the first day in Mugello, especially with the new parts we have to test there, because we really need to get the bike dialled in for qualifying this week. Mugello is one of my favourite tracks on the calendar and, although I’ve had some bad luck racing in Italy previously, I’m hoping that my luck will finally change this weekend and we’ll come away with another good result.”

Livio Loi #11:
“Two years ago I won a Moriwaki Cup race at Mugello, so at least I know the track, although it will be very different on a Moto3 bike I think. In Le Mans we had a problem with the tyres in qualifying, which is something we need to address this weekend in Mugello. I need to be qualifying top 15 this weekend if I am to achieve my goal in the race, which is, once again, to finish in a points scoring position.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“While we have to be realistic and understand that repeating the success of Le Mans will be difficult, that won’t stop us pushing every weekend to do so. In the four races so far this season we’ve had a Marc VDS rider on the podium every time and, for me, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t continue this trend at Mugello. With Livio we will focus this weekend on improving his qualifying performance, as you can’t afford to be starting from the seventh row of the grid in such a closely contested championship as Moto3. He needs to be a little more aggressive, both in qualifying and the race, but that will come as he gains experience.”