Scott Redding took his fourth podium finish of the 2012 season with an impressive third place in today's Moto2 race at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain. Mika Kallio finished 16th after struggling throughout the race with a lack of grip.

Redding qualified ninth fastest in the difficult conditions yesterday, but got a good start and made up places in the first two turns to complete the first lap in sixth position. The 19-year-old Briton was able to match the lap times of the front runners in the early stages of the race, before upping the pace at the halfway point, moving his way through the field and eventually getting involved with the battle for second place being waged by Marc Marquez and Andrea Iannone.

There was no quarter given or asked by the three riders as they fought for supremacy on track, with hard moves the norm rather than the exception. After an intense battle with Marquez, who eventually escaped to secure second place, Redding set his sights firmly on Iannone and the final podium position. With both riders on the limit, and evenly matched in terms of lap times, it took a brave move from Redding in the Aragon Corkscrew to secure third position and his fourth podium finish of the season so far.

Kallio had high hopes of a top five finish at Aragon, but realised almost from the start that today would be a battle with the bike rather than with his rivals. The 29-year-old Finn struggled with a lack of grip in the cold conditions yesterday and, while most riders found more available grip with today's higher track temperature, the same wasn’t true of Kallio. The Marc VDS rider pushed to the limit throughout the 21-lap race, but was unable to match the lap times of the leading group and had dropped back to 16th position at the chequered flag.

Scott Redding #45: 3rd Position
“It's been a tough weekend, both with the weather and my right wrist. The wrist wasn't causing me problems on the bike, but it was causing a lot of pain. I opted to go with painkillers for the race and I'm glad I did, but every lap was so busy I probably wouldn't have even noticed the pain anyway. The battle with Marquez was a good one. I managed to pass him a couple of times only for him to pass me back on the straight. I didn't want to slow us both down by continually passing him in the corners, as I wanted to catch Iannone, which we eventually did. Marquez managed to pull a gap, but Iannone couldn't get away and I eventually managed to pass him for third with a bit of a risky move at the corkscrew. It's a great result and I'd like to say a big thank you to the team and the guys in the Clinica Mobile for making it possible.”

Mika Kallio #36: 16th Position
“What can I say, this result was not what we were hoping for or expecting. Actually I'm not sure what happened during the race. We saw yesterday in the dry qualifying session that I was struggling for grip and I had the same problem today. The track conditions were better for the race but while others were able to find more grip, I was having the same issues as yesterday. It felt like I was on the limit and every time I tried to push it was like hitting a wall. I tried to be more aggressive then less aggressive, but it made no difference. I was off the pace and losing places with every lap without being able to do a thing about it, which was incredibly frustrating. We need to find out what the problem was, so we can ensure we don't have similar issues in the future.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“Scott was impressive here at Aragon. He's played down the impact of his recent surgery all weekend, but he's had to deal with a lot of pain on the bike and that's especially true of today's race. He rode a very clever race today, conserving his strength in the early laps and then taking the fight to Marquez and Iannone in the closing stages. He had the beating of both today, but he just couldn't compensate for the ground lost to Marquez on the back straight. His move on Iannone was a risky one, but it showed just how much confidence he has in the bike and in himself. It was a great result for Scott in difficult circumstances. Mika is obviously disappointed to finish outside the points today, as he expected to be fighting for at least a top five finish. Why he should have grip issues when others didn't is not clear at this time, but we are working to identify the problem so we can find a solution ahead of Motegi.”