The Motul Argentinean Round proved to be a rollercoaster weekend for Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) on his first visit to the Circuito San Juan Villicum as he claimed pole position and a Race 2 victory alongside a Tissot Superpole Race podium, but fell out of Championship contention after losing lots of points following a Race 1 crash and being unable to regain those lots points as the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship held its penultimate round of the 2021 season.

Following the three races at the Argentinean venue, Redding is now 66 points behind leader Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) with 62 available across the season-ending Indonesian Round, with Race 2 victory not enough to keep him in contention despite Razgatlioglu finishing in third place.

Race 2 proved to be a thrilling event under the blue skies at San Juan Villicum with Redding, Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) battling it out for victory in the first half of the race before Redding was able to break away from Rea and Razgatlioglu to claim his first win since Race 1 at the Catalunya Round and his first dry-weather victory since the Superpole Race at the Circuito de Navarra.

Explaining the Race 2 battle, Redding said: “I said if they wanted to see this side, I’d also ride aggressively. That’s what I did this weekend. I put my name on the map to not be the safety rider anymore because it doesn’t bring anything. If you can’t beat them, join them. That’s what I did and managed to beat them as well. I can’t wait to watch the race back! I don’t remember anything that happened! It was like Bassani, Jonny, Toprak through and then me. I didn’t even know what was going on! It looked really good from my point. I got to the front and I was feeling Toprak on the inside for the move. I braked too late, gave it all back again. I’m pushing, I’m pushing on my limit to win races.”

With results not going his way to keep him in Championship contention into the final round of the season, Redding will be looking to go out on a high at the brand new Mandalika International Street Circuit before he leaves Ducati for the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team in 2022 after two years at Ducati.

Discussing his final round with Ducati in Indonesia, Redding added: “It’s going to be sad, I’ll be honest. We really had some great seasons together. A lot of wins, a lot of podiums. Sometimes I get sad because it’s like you’re moving on when everything’s going well but it is what it is. The decision was made for a reason. We’ll stick by that, but you never know what the future can hold. Alvaro’s come back, maybe a few years down the line I’ll come back as well. The bike’s been good, the team’s been amazing. I can’t take anything away from anyone within the team.”

Watch the action from WorldSBK’s first round at Mandalika using the WorldSBK VideoPass!