Gravel to podium for Redding in Misano mayhem

Gravel to podium for Redding in Misano mayhem

Misano, Italy – 13 September 2015: Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Scott Redding celebrated a stunning first MotoGP podium after a dramatic and incident-packed clash in front of a record crowd packed into the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli today.

An early crash and two pits stops in a rain-hit 28-lap encounter failed to prevent the 22-year-old from mastering constantly changing track conditions to finish in a sensational third.

With the field starting the race on slick tyres, Redding crashed at turn four on lap six when rain started to fall heavily while he was on a brilliant charge up from 13th to the battle raging for fourth.

Redding pitted to switch to his wet weather Honda RC213V machine and was seemingly well out of contention.

As the rain quickly stopped, the 2.626 miles surface dried rapidly and Redding timed his switch back to slicks perfectly and he was fourth on track with just seven laps to go.

Redding then launched a terrific charge towards his first premier class podium, which ended in success when he passed Loris Baz for third on lap 25. Redding’s superior pace saw him comfortably streak away from the Frenchman and his first MotoGP podium was secured by almost eight seconds, much to the delight of on-looking team owner Marc van der Straten.

With Bradley Smith joining Redding on the podium it was the first time since Barry Sheene and Tom Herron stood on the podium together in Venezuela in 1979 that two British riders have achieved such a result.

Scott Redding: 3rd
“Where do you start after a race like that? When it started to rain I knew I had nothing to lose and pushed hard on the slicks. But I pushed too much and couldn’t stop the bike before I entered the gravel and crashed. I thought that was race over but got back on as quickly as I could and I could see that a couple of guys still hadn’t passed me, so knew I was still in a good position. I changed to the rain tyres and had a really bad feeling. I couldn’t get them to working temperature and when I did the track had already started to dry. I switched back to slicks thinking I’d got no chance and then suddenly I saw P4. I thought it was a mistake but then saw seven seconds to Baz and got my head down to catch him in case it rained again. Then I’m in third and I certainly didn’t expect that when I woke up this morning. It’s a great feeling for me and especially the team because they have deserved this for sticking by me all season.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“For a private team to get on a MotoGP podium is like a dream and today we accomplished that. It is a very special feeling to do it in our first year. I have always believed in Scott and we worked hard to make this team happen. It has not been easy and we have taken a lot of criticism but today he showed what he can do and without the crash he could have won. Now that would have been unbelievable. Now we think it is a shame because we know he is leaving us at the end of the season but nobody can take this away from him or the team. Scott is used to breaking records and today he’s done it again, with Bradley and him being the first two British riders on a MotoGP podium together since 1979. This is a day we will remember for a long time.”