‘Now is the time’ for BMW switch, ‘really seen a step with them’ - Redding

Scott Redding believes his switch from Ducati to BMW for the 2022 WorldSBK campaign comes at the right time following the German manufacturers 2021 improvements; ‘this year I’ve really seen a step with them - with both riders. Now I think is the time to go’.

Robert Jones

20 Aug 2021

Scott Redding sits out the first 20 minutes, Misano WorldSBK 2021
© Gold and Goose

After choosing Ducati over BMW in 2020, Scott Redding has finally agreed to join BMW for the 2022 WorldSBK season.

BMW confirmed that Redding will line-up alongside Dutchman Michael Van Der Mark.

With Redding having spent three seasons with Ducati since leaving MotoGP, last year’s runner-up felt like this was the right time to ‘make a change’ following an inconsistent 2021 campaign thus far.

Speaking about the announcement, Redding added: "Aruba Ducati has been amazing to me for the last two years and Ducati for the three years. But there is a time and a place for everything.

"I feel this is a time where I need to make a change and I’m really looking forward to this step in my career.

"It will be interesting because it’s a younger project; maybe a little bit more fire to succeed because they haven’t quite been there for awhile, so I like that.

"But in general yeah, it’s just one of those things. You got to move on, you got to do your thing and look forward.

"I’ve never rode an inline V4cc - I’ve always been on a V4 since I came to Superbike, so I’ll see. I’m interested to see how that goes."

As stated above, this is not the first time BMW has shown interest in acquiring Redding.

After winning the 2019 BSB championship, Redding’s WorldSBK decision came down to Ducati and BMW - chose the former based on their readiness to win.

However, with BMW’s big step forward in results and performance with the new M 1000 RR, Redding believes it’s the right ‘time to go’.

"It’s amazing that the other company really wants you for so many years; we were discussing with them (BMW) before and I went to Ducati but felt a little bit bad," said Redding.

"My goal was always to win and I didn’t believe at that time BMW had that experience to win. I know they’ve won races in the past, but since they’ve come back I wasn’t sure.

"It’s difficult because you're talking hundredths, thousandths of a second which can take years to find those.

"But this year I’ve really seen a step with them - with both riders. Having Van Der Mark was good. Now I think is the time to go."