Scott Redding enjoys “amazing” first day on Ducati WorldSBK return

Scott Redding’s first day back aboard the Ducati Panigale V4 R ahead of the 2025 WorldSBK season saw him show impressive speed, even if the result was marginally below his target.

The British rider was third on the timesheets on the first day of this week’s Jerez test, making it an all-Ducati top-three behind Nicolo Bulega and Andrea Iannone.

“The first day’s been really amazing,” Redding told WorldSBK.com at the end of the first day in Jerez.

“I wasn’t able to ride the bike at the end of the year, so I was really eager. I finally got that feeling back on my fingertips.

“Today ended up being a really good day and a great start for me and the team.”

Finishing the day third overall was encouraging for Redding, but still below his ambitions.

“My goal was try to go P1 on my first day,” he said. “It’s a little bit ambitious, but you’ve got to aim high!

“I also had a yellow flag on my best lap so I lost a little bit of time.

“In general, to be top-three on my first day and all of these guys have tested I think two times [for] two days or three days since the end of the season; it was hard to get up to speed initially but when I found my rhythm and relaxed a little bit, I could build.

“My best lap was on the SCQ and then I did a 1:40 with the race tyre.”

Bonovo MGM team manager Michael Galinkski was also pleased with Redding’s initial performance, and the work done by the team to get him there.

“We worked on the balance of the bike for Scott [Redding], and the suspension and everything to give him a bike that he can feel,” Galinski said, speaking to WorldSBK.com.

“It was better than I expected but the first day was a lot of work.”