Scott Redding “grateful to not be suffocating while riding” at Portimao WorldSBK

Normally a summer race, WorldSBK’s Portimao round this year takes place at the end of March, meaning cooler conditions that Scott Redding says he is “grateful” for.

The British rider arrives in Portugal having finished inside the top-six in all three races at the opening round in Australia where the weather was notably hot, especially on Saturday.

At the undulating and rarely-straight Portimao layout, he says the normal summer date for the race makes it “hard work”.

“The weather here I think is not going to be too bad, but normally we race in the summer which is hard work – this is a very physical track anyway, and then go put us in 30–35 degrees it makes it very tough over three races,” Redding told WorldSBK.com ahead of the Portuguese Round.

“So, I’ll be grateful to not be suffocating while riding.”

Redding missed the World Superbike test on 14–15 March at Portimao. It rained again during the two days as it did in the winter, but there was also a substantial amount of dry running for those in attendance.

The MGM Bonovo rider said the extra track time his rivals have coming into the weekend is something he needs to not think about.

“I mean I took it out of my mind, don’t think about it, and I just pretend that nobody was here testing because otherwise you think you’re at a disadvantage,” he said.

“It would have been nice, whether it was here or somewhere else, for me to test because I’m missing some test days and I feel like I need a good two days to try some stuff on the bike that then I can use in the racing.

“Now I’m doing it in the race weekend which is not ideal. It would’ve been nice to come last week, we didn’t come, in my head nobody else came here either so everyone’s starting from zero.”

Despite the probable disadvantage he will face going into the weekend, Redding is aiming for the podium in Portugal.

“This weekend in Portimao the goal will be again to try and get on the podium for sure,” he said.

“The top-five is always our goal.

“Here is a circuit that is a little bit more difficult for me. I’ve had some good results, but it’s a track that I find quite difficult; I normally go better in the race, so I need to keep that in mind a little bit.

“I would’ve liked a little bit more testing here because in the preseason it was one day half-a-day with rain and there was big [wet] patches, so I don’t really know how I will go and my bike now is completely different to when I was here [in the winter].

“So, again Scott Redding is going into the unknown and I’ll be doing my best.”