Gosselies, Belgium – 26 May 2015: Scott Redding heads to this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, round six of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship, determined to find a solution to the set up issues that have hampered his progress in all but one race this season.

In what has proved to be a difficult start to his first season aboard the factory Honda RC213V, Redding has only one top ten finish to his name, while crashes in Austin and Le Mans mean he currently lies only 13th in the championship standings, well short of both his and the team’s expectations.

It’s a situation that the 22-year-old is keen to reverse this weekend in Mugello, a track at which he dominated proceedings two years ago, winning the Moto2 race comfortably from pole position.

The Mugello track itself could prove to be a major factor in a Redding revival this weekend, as grip levels are high and, as he showed during practice and qualifying in Austin earlier in the season, when grip is available the 22-year-old Briton knows how to take full advantage of it.

The Italian Grand Prix weekend gets underway with free practice at 09.55 on Friday morning, with the 23-lap MotoGP race scheduled to start at 14.00 on Sunday afternoon.

Scott Redding:
“The only goal this weekend in Mugello is to find a solution to the problems we had in both Jerez and Le Mans. It seems that when grip is hard to find then we suffer a lot more with the front than the other Honda riders and that’s something we need to get to the bottom of. However, it may not be such an issue this weekend, as Mugello is a track where there is normally a lot of grip and that could help us. Even so, we still need to find a good front feeling and more front grip. We’ve tried a lot of things on the bike without any benefit, but we have a few more options to test this weekend. That’s one of our biggest problems at the moment; our only chance to test changes is during race weekends when track time is limited. I like the Mugello circuit, but it’s demanding of the bike and tyres and also of the rider, both mentally and physically. I suspect we’re in for another tough weekend in Italy, but preferably one that ends with a decent result on Sunday”  

Chris Pike: Chief Engineer
“The last few races have been difficult for both Scott and the team. While Scott’s pace in the first free practice sessions is good, at the moment he isn’t able to improve on his lap time as the weekend progresses. We need to rebuild his confidence in the bike, so he can start riding to its strengths but, as he’s at the extreme end of the physical spectrum compared to the three other factory Honda riders, it’s proving more difficult than expected to find a setting he’s comfortable with, despite the collective efforts of the team, HRC and Öhlins. We will continue working to find a solution this weekend at Mugello, a track where grip is never normally an issue.”