Scott Redding reflects on “fun, exciting” Australia WorldSBK Race 1: “So nice to be back”
Scott Redding immediately jumped into the podium battle on his return to Ducati at the Australian World Superbike round.
The switch from BMW to Ducati for MGM Bonovo and Scott Redding has immediately resulted in podium contention after the British rider scored a top-five finish in WorldSBK Race 1 at the 2025 season opener in Australia.
Redding scored 38 podiums in his two years at the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team back in 2020 and 2021, but only two in his three years at BMW between 2022–2024.
The British rider’s return to the Panigale V4 R finally rolled onto a starting grid in Australia for Race 1 at the opening round of the 2025 World Superbike season, and immediately saw Redding back in podium contention, the #45 battling against Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Iannone, and Danilo Petrucci for much of the race over third.
In the end, it was fifth for Redding, who barely rode on Friday thanks to technical problems, which marked his best result since he was fourth in the Superpole Race at last year’s French Round.
“That was fun, that was really exciting,” Redding told WorldSBK.com after Race 1 in Australia.
“It was just so nice to be back, fighting at the front. At one point I felt like I was leading the race because Nicolo [Bulega] was so far ahead!
“But to be battling for a podium in my first race back with Ducati [has] been amazing, the team has been phenomenal.
“We had a difficult day yesterday, I did five laps all day, [so] a lot of pressure in qualifying today to get it right, and in the race I wanted to really do my best and show my potential. I could feel the podium – I wanted it, but I didn’t quite have enough today.”
At one point in the race, Redding lost a piece of his bike that was picked up by the trackside TV cameras. The British rider explained that it was a piece from the back of his seat that he uses to stop him falling too far back in the seat.
“I have like a seat bumper on the back of the seat and I felt it come loose, and then it was gone,” he said.
“So, in the last few laps it disturbed me a little bit on riding position because normally I relax against that and I wasn’t able to.
“So, I felt really far back on the bike and I was using my arms a lot more. It was okay, it didn’t affect me or the result.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
