The 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign has been a challenging season for Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) so far, finishing in the top ten only twice prior to the Prosecco DOC UK Round. A retirement in Race 1 when running in the top five started the Donington Park visit with more difficulties, but it was a Sunday to remember as he secured two fourth place finishes to comfortably take his best results of the season.

In Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session, Redding put his M 1000 RR machine onto the front row and was under the existing lap record although he did have a huge margin to polesitter Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) after the Turkish star’s stunning lap time. A technical issue forced him out of Race 1, but Redding was able to convert his front-row start to P4 in the Superpole Race before finishing in the same position in the 23-lap Race 2 later that afternoon to complete his best weekend of the season.

Summing up Sunday, Redding said: “First of all, I’m just happy with how the weekend’s gone and finished up. I’ve gained a lot of confidence. It was a big change for a race weekend. The Superpole Race was not good, not bad. I’m still happy! To finish fourth in a Superpole Race, if you told me that in the last three rounds, I’d have ripped your arm off! I’m not fully happy because I feel like I could’ve had that podium. I just messed the start up a little bit. I felt they were holding the lights a little bit longer than we’re used to, so the hand was definitely trying to go. I didn’t get such a good start and then you’re a little bit in the mix and then I lost that group. I was slowly starting Jonathan a little bit and I thought if I was closer, the potential was there. I’m still happy with the fourth and actually in the race.

“In Race 2, I got a great start and battled my way through a little bit. I felt really good, trying to stay calm. I didn’t want to do anything silly as I wasn’t going to beat the first two guys, so I just stayed in my position. Alex passed me and I was staying there and felt pretty good, but I was struggling with the front brake. I had to adjust it something like five times per lap and I was suffering a little bit with arm pump. I was kind of riding with one arm and trying to manage the gaps. I made a small mistake. It was quite intense because I was having a good weekend and I wanted to finish strongly. I had the pressure of Alvaro behind; the gap was coming down and he’s normally quite fast at the end of the race. I had a lot of stress, but it was definitely worthwhile! For me the biggest thing was building confidence this weekend, telling myself, ‘You can do it’, and proving to myself I can do it. Not riding at the front is mentally different compared to when you’re riding in 15^th position and that was probably the hardest thing, fighting with myself to stay calm and not make mistakes and I felt I did good. Hopefully, being at the front here on in a bit more, it’ll come back to me.”

WorldSBK is back in action this week as the 2024 campaign reaches the halfway point at the Autodrom Most, a circuit Redding and BMW have gone well at before. He won there in 2021 when with Ducati while claiming a podium in Race 1 in 2022 for BMW. He’s only been outside the top ten once in the Czech Republic, which will give the 12-time race winner hope he can fight at the front once again on his M 1000 RR.

Previewing the Czech Round, Redding said: “I’m excited just at the fact I feel like we have made a step with the bike settings. We’re still not where I feel we need to be for me but we are going in a good direction where I feel positive, and the results also show that’s a big factor. Going to Most, somewhere I’ve enjoyed a lot in the past, and the BMW goes well there, I’ll be looking to try and stay on this form there.”

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