Scott Redding saw his lead in the FIM Moto2 World Championship cut by seven points, after severe tyre issues saw him struggle to a seventh place finish in today’s German Moto2 Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

Mika Kallio showed strongly at the start of today’s 29-lap race, but slipped down the order to eventually finish 13th, after experiencing the same tyre problems as his Marc VDS teammate.

Redding got a good start from eighth position on the grid, but was unable to make contact with the leading group as rear grip dropped off sharply in the early stages of the race. Despite a rapidly deteriorating rear tyre, the 20-year-old Briton was initially involved in the battle for fourth place, but dropped back when the tyre started tearing at the midpoint of the race and eventually finished seventh.

For Kallio the tyre issues started almost immediately, as he experienced a severe drop off in rear grip from lap six onwards. The 30-year-old Finn managed to hold on to fifth place for two more laps, before rapidly dropping down the order as the rear tyre continued to deteriorate, to eventually finish a disappointing 13th.

Livio Loi banked a season’s worth of race experience in one day at the Sachsenring, as the 16-year-old Belgian overcame his own rear tyre issue to head a race long, seven-way battle in today’s German Moto3 Grand Prix. Loi made up two places from the start and then spent the remainder of the race battling for position in a closely matched group of seven riders. In the final stages of the race Loi broke away from his pursuers and was closing rapidly on Toni Finsterbusch in 21st, but ran out of laps and had to settle for 22nd at the line.

Scott Redding #45: 7th
“What can I say; from the lap two or three I was struggling with rear grip from the left hand side of the tyre. In the right-handers and through the first sector I was catching hand over fist, but when it came to the left-hand corners I had virtually no edge grip on entry or exit. From halfway onwards the tyre started to tear, which reduced grip even further and also caused pretty bad chatter. I was disappointed not to finish in front of Lüthi and De Angelis, because with Pol only third here today, a fifth place finish would have seen me go into the summer break with more than a 25 point lead in the championship standings. I need to come back strong in Indianapolis, to start the second half of the season in the same way I started the first half.”

Mika Kallio #36: 13th
“It’s difficult to understand the tyre problem we had today. In practice yesterday I completed two race distance runs of 27 or 28 laps on the same tyre, with the same settings in the bike, in almost identical conditions and there was no problem. Today, after just six laps, the rear grip dropped off massively while I was running fifth and I couldn’t maintain the lap time. As the race progressed and the rear continued to deteriorate it started inducing chatter, which was causing a lot of problems on corner entry. I’m really disappointed, as I thought we’d done everything right this weekend, but today was a disaster.”

Livio Loi #11: 22nd
“For the first time I got a good start, making up a couple of places, but straight away I had a problem with the tyres. I felt directly that the rear was sliding as soon as I got on the gas and I was struggling to make my lap times. It meant I spent the whole race trying to adapt my riding style to compensate, whilst involved in a big battle with six or seven other riders. Eventually I managed to pull away from the chasing group and started to close the gap to Finsterbusch, but I ran out of laps. The result is not what I was looking for, but I learnt a lot out there today.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“We are lucky to leave the Sachsenring with Scott still leading the championship by 23 points after the tyre problems he and Mika experienced today. We know tyres are an issue here, especially the left hand side of the rear, but we weren’t expecting such a rapid deterioration. During free practice we ran more than one race simulation on the tyres we used today in the race, in very similar conditions, with no problems at all. But then, today, it’s like we’d used a completely different tyre. It’s a similar situation to that which we experienced in Austin and, to be honest, it’s something that needs to be addressed as a matter of safety. Scott and Mika did well not to crash today, never mind finish in the points, but both are bitterly disappointed with the results. I know Livio is also a little disappointed, but this is a learning year for him and he learnt a lot today in the race, probably more than he’s learnt in all the previous races put together. He did well to overcome an issue with the rear tyre and he came very close to achieving his target of a top 20 finish, only to run out of time right at the end.”