Scott Redding produced one of the standout performances of his career today, the Marc VDS Racing rider storming to a sensational British Grand Prix success in front of a jubilant home crowd at Silverstone.
Redding brushed aside the pressure and expectation of racing in front of a home crowd of almost 74,000 fans to deliver a crucial win in an 18-lap race he controlled for the most part with some supreme riding on his Kalex Moto2 machine.
After leading for the first 11-laps, Redding was briefly dragged into an exciting podium battle with Takaaki Nakagami and Thomas Lüthi before he regained the advantage on lap 15.
The 20-year-old then rode a faultless final four laps to become the first British rider to win his home race in the intermediate class since Tom Herron at the Isle of Man TT in 1976.
It was Redding’s second success in front of his crowd after his career first victory in the 2008 125GP at Donington Park. Today’s win though carried huge significance, with the Briton extending his Moto2 World Championship to a commanding 38-points with six races remaining after closest rival Pol Espargaro could only finish eighth.
Redding’s outstanding ride was backed up by Brno winner Mika Kallio, who battled to a hard fought sixth position that keeps him firmly in the hunt for a top three position in the World Championship rankings.
Scott Redding #45: 1st
“To come here to your home Grand Prix and stand on the top step of the podium in red, white and blue, well, it doesn’t get much better than that, really. I was happy with how the race panned out today. No pressure, no real mistakes and we got the result we came here for. To do it on a weekend when we’ve been celebrating the life of Barry Sheene, one of the all-time greats of motorcycle racing, was just the icing on the cake for me. The win today means I leave Silverstone with a 38 point lead in the championship and with one less race for my main rivals to try and reel me in. All in all, a good weekend all round.”
Mika Kallio #36: 6th
“All the weekend I’ve been a few tenths off the pace of the fastest riders and I couldn’t find the same good rhythm I had at Brno. Silverstone is a nice track, but for some reason it’s one that I’ve never really clicked with. But today was better; I was much closer to the front and that’s promising for the coming races, at circuits where I’ve gone well in the past. I got pushed out in turn one at the start and lost contact with the leading group. I was able to run with Tito Rabat early on, but I just didn’t have the pace needed to pass and he managed to get away after I ran wide later in the race. Not a great weekend by Brno standards, but I’m satisfied with the result today.”
Marc VDS Racing Team Press Release
