Scott Redding and Mika Kallio put on a master class in overtaking, taking 19 places between them on their way to finishing fourth and fifth respectively in today’s Moto2 Grand Prix of Aragon

Starting from the fifth row of the grid, Redding attacked immediately, pushing his way past eight riders on the opening lap and carrying the forward momentum on to take second place four laps into the race. The 20-year-old Briton then came under concerted attack from Tito Rabat, who eventually squeezed his way through into second.

The second half of the race saw Redding trying to hold off Pol Espargaro, despite an obvious speed disadvantage on the long Aragon straight. Espargaro made his first move with three laps to go, only for Redding to immediately retake the place, but with two laps remaining the Spaniard went again, pulling a slight gap and leaving the Marc VDS rider too far back to mount another challenge for the last podium position.

Redding’s fourth place in today’s Moto2 Grand Prix of Aragon limited his loss to just three points in the championship standings, which he now leads by 20 points over Espargaro.

While Redding was blitzing his way through the field in the early stages, Kallio was forced into a more steady approach, picking off riders on every lap to eventually work his way through to fifth place by half race distance. The 30-year-old Finn could see Redding and Espargaro ahead of him and, lap by lap, eventually closed the gap to join the battle for third place.

Kallio was able to comfortably match the lap times of Espargaro, but lacked the little bit of extra pace needed to mount a challenge on the Pons rider. The Finnish rider eventually followed his Marc VDS teammate across the line to take an impressive fifth place.

Livio Loi added another World Championship point to his tally, after heading a seven-way battle to finish 15th in today’s Moto3 Grand Prix of Aragon.

The 16-year-old Belgian was moving steadily through the group fighting for 15th position until an error saw him run off track, leaving him to do it all again as he re-joined at the back of the group. Having worked his way back to the front of the group, Loi took 15th place and the final championship point by passing Ana Carrasco on the final lap of the race.

Scott Redding #45 // 4th // @Reddingpower
“Today the plan was simple; attack and keep fighting. I knew I had to fight today, for a result and for the championship, and that’s what I did. I got a clean run through the field from the start and managed to get a good run onto the back straight on the first lap and pass some more people. The problem was that when there was nobody to slipstream on the back straight I was losing too much time and that’s what gave Pol the final podium position today. It was a little disheartening, to work so hard throughout the race, trying to make it perfect, trying to block the line and yet they still come past you on the straight. I did my best today, but the straight was our downfall. After the problems in qualifying we can be happy that we limited the loss to just three points today.”

Mika Kallio #36 // 5th
“I didn’t get my normal start to the race and then almost came to a stop on the inside of turn one because of the traffic. Lap by lap I got more feeling and I started to catch the guys in front of me. My lap times were good and every time I passed a rider there was another one there to chase. At the end I managed to close on to Pol’s back wheel, but I just didn’t have that little bit extra to try and pass safely. It wasn’t a bad result, but I had the pace today to be on the podium if I hadn’t made the job so hard for myself by qualifying so far down the grid. This is something we need to address; if you want to be on the podium you need to qualify at least on the front three rows, not the fifth.”

Livio Loi #11 // 15th // @LivioLoi
“The start and opening lap weren’t so good, but I managed to get back on the group and was pushing hard to make up places, but then ran off track trying to pass Eric Granado and had to do it all again. I eventually got back to the front of the group and pushed to pull a gap, but while I was faster I wasn’t quite fast enough to get away. It’s good to be back in the points here at Aragon.”

Michael Bartholemy // Team Principal
“This was exactly the result I was expecting from Scott. He was 13th on the grid, but we knew from last year that, when he has the slipstream on the straight, he can make up the 0.2s or so that we miss in qualifying. He’s shown here that he will fight for this championship. He was almost on the podium today, beaten only by the straight at Aragon. It was also an impressive ride from Mika, to come from 15th on the grid to catch the fight for third, but it’s a little bit a shame that he didn’t quite have the pace at the end to get into a battle with Pol. Once again Livio finished at the head of his group to take another championship point. Four or five laps into the race he was running the same lap times as the group ahead of him, which he could have been a part of with a little more aggression in the early stages of the race. Overall it’s been a satisfactory weekend for the Marc VDS Racing Team here at Aragon.”