After coming so close to his first podium with BMW in Race 1 of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s visit to Donington Park for the Prosecco DOC UK Round, Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was able to claim his first rostrum visit with the German manufacturer in the Tissot Superpole Race by finishing in third place after another thrilling battle in the 10-lap race.
In Race 1, Redding battled with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the closing stages of the 23-lap encounter with Lowes coming out on top on that occasion after cutting back through Turn 1 and riding underneath Redding into Turn 2. Redding still claimed his best BMW result in Race 1 with fourth place, and he was able to go one better in the Superpole Race to claim his first BMW podium.
Once again, it was Lowes and Redding battling it out for third spot in the Superpole Race, with the pair, like they did in Race 1, fighting hard through the Turn 9-10 chicane, into the Turn 11 hairpin and again into the Turn 12 hairpin. Lowes was ahead on the exit of Goddards at Turn 12, but Redding was able to get up the inside into Turn 1 on the final lap to move into third place. It meant Redding claimed BMW’s 51st podium placement and their first since Race 2 at the Indonesian Round that ended the 2021 season, when teammate Michael van der Mark claimed a rostrum visit.
Immediately after the race, Redding said: “That was a hard race! I got a good start; we knew we’d been working on that area yesterday. Today we got the start. It makes it a bit easier. I felt like I had a little bit more pace, but I thought they’re just controlling the race a little bit. I tried to save the tyre. The last few laps, I saw Alex and Alvaro behind. I thought ‘keep my head down, no mistakes’. Alex came and I thought ‘not like yesterday!’. Made it on the podium. Slowly we’re getting there.”
After Race 2 concluded, where Redding finished in fifth place, Redding expanded further on his thoughts following his first BMW podium as well as discussing improvements with his starts, something Redding has admitted has been a bit of a weakness this season. He said: “It’s a step forward, this is what I was looking for this weekend. To get a podium in the Superpole Race, a fourth, a fifth, a front row… this is important for us to make these steps.
“A lot of the races are done in the start and the first five, six, ten laps. In Misano, I was losing so many positions and it was so frustrating. I worked so hard then gave it all away, then I have to come back through the pack and it’s not fair on me. In the end, we were working a lot on starts. We’ve got a package that’s working really well. I did some practice starts and they were really good. I made a mistake in Race 1 and we went back again, but now we’ve got it dialled and both starts seemed to be better. I can get confidence that I can make a good start.”
WorldSBK moves to the Czech Round in two weeks.