Top ten start at home weekend for Redding
Silverstone, Great Britain – 28 August 2015: The British Grand Prix has always been a happy hunting ground for Scott Redding and his home race started strongly with top ten pace on the opening day of practice. The Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider, who has won the British Grand Prix in both the 125cc and Moto2 classes, was within one second of Jorge Lorenzo at the close of the day.
Redding completed 33 laps of the Silverstone circuit and set his fastest time early in FP2 and thereafter focussed his efforts on finding a better balance on the bike. Despite his strong start Redding has some issues with the bumpy Silverstone track surface, leaving him looking for improvements from the bike to offer more rear grip in these sections.
The 22 year old Briton has had a difficult first season aboard the Honda RC213V but having had such a strong start to the weekend there are plenty of positives to build on ahead of tomorrow's all important FP3 session.
Scott Redding: 9th – 2’03.284
“I said before the weekend that I'd wait and see how the bike felt here at Silverstone, but it felt pretty good this morning. It wasn't great initially but it got better and I got into a good rhythm. It feels quite different here compared to the Open bike from last year and it's surprising how much faster it is. We're struggling a little over the bumps because the tyre absorbs the bump but it doesn't grip. We need to work in that area for tomorrow. The wind was playing a big role at the end of the day, it's a crosswind coming out of Turn 15 and when the bike is trying to pull a bit of a wheelie the wind gets underneath, so it's important to keep the front on the ground.”
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“This morning was good and we were in the top ten. In the afternoon we running in the top six but the Open riders used their soft tyre and moved in front of us. We were 0.9s from the front so I must say this was one of our best starts to the weekend and I'm hoping that we can finally continue on this form and make the top ten in FP3 tomorrow morning.”