Scott Redding discusses with “sketchy” French WorldSBK Superpole conditions
“We have to have a little chat with the safety commission”.
Scott Redding qualified on the front row for the French WorldSBK, but made it clear afterwards that he was not entirely happy with the conditions the Superpole session went ahead in.
Rain was falling in Magny-Cours throughout Satruday morning, and intensified as the 15-minute Superpole session took place.
“It was sketchy,” Redding told Eurosport after Superpole, “the water started to stand quite early which I didn’t expect, and I had a couple of guys in front so the visibility was bad.
“We have to have a little chat with the safety commission because I was behind, I could see there was a lot of crashes, a lot of standing water, you’re just kind of floating.
“In the end, we got the job done, front row which is nice.”
Alex Lowes took pole position for the second time in his WorldSBK career, but also described the conditions as “tricky” and “sketchy” when speaking to Eurosport in parc ferme.
“Tricky conditions, honestly, the track was getting worse and worse and I was surprised by how much standing water there was,” the Kawasaki rider said.
“Turn 14, where Toprak [Razgatlioglu] had his crash yesterday [in FP2], the whole bike was just sliding through there.
“So, a little bit sketchy conditions, a lot of aquaplaning. Hopefully there’s a bit less water later [for Race 1].
“But I know how to ride in the rain, I had enough practice when I was younger in England.
“But it’s still a dodgy session, you can sometimes lose more than you can gain.
“But really happy with the lap time, I knew after I did sort of a pretty good lap, I had a gauge behind Jonathan [Rea], that I wasn’t going to go loads faster without risking a lot.
“Luckily it was enough. The race is probably going to be wet today, but let’s see what we can do.”
Nicolo Bulega will be between the two British riders on the front row for Race 1 in second place. He crashed while braking in a straight line for turn five, as did some other riders including Sam Lowes and Danilo Petrucci.
“Honestly, I had a good feeling,” Bulega told Eurosport after Superpole.
“I crashed, but I realised that I was on the floor later because it was a very fast crash and I didn’t have time to understand that I was crashing. It was a very high-speed crash. Strange, because I was completely straight, so I don’t know. I saw Petrucci did the same as me, so I don’t know.
“But, anyway, front row, so I’m really happy, and we will try to do a great weekend.”
