Series newcomer Scott Redding has revealed he is still approaching Oulton Park with a good deal of caution, despite qualifying seventh on the grid for tomorrow’s first Bennetts British Superbike race.

But the Be Wiser Ducati rider admitted he loves the circuit all the same and was delighted with his performance today.

Redding looked to be on the provisional front row of the grid early in Q3, but was knocked down the order by front row boys Tommy Bridewell and Peter Hickman, and eventually ended up behind three others to head up the third row.

And while he was chuffed to make it into the final segment of qualifying, he’s still airing on the side of safety at some points on the Cheshire track.

“We did the test here before and I got about 18 laps and by the last session and the last lap I kind of knew where I was going,” Redding admitted.

“Then coming here again it was better but it still scares the life out of me, I’m not going to lie. But I love it at the same time.

“Clay Hill for example, in my entire GP career there were no corners like that and there’s rails on each side. But I started to pick the pace up and really enjoyed the character of the track, that’s what I love.

Redding revealed he went into Q3 with old rubber, which he says may have kept him off the front row. But with pole-sitter and team-mate Josh Brookes next to him in the garage, the BSB rookie is hoping to soak up years of experience.

Going into qualifying I thought ‘if I could get into Q3 I’d be really happy’ and we made some big steps in quali and I only had a used tyre. It was a shame not to have a new one, I reckon I could’ve got to the front row, which I never would’ve expected.

“I still see I’m three seconds off the pace and I’m thinking ‘how, where am I going to make that?’. The good thing is my team-mate is very fast so I can study the data and learn. But it’s not one of those tracks where you can see it on the data and go and do it.

“So if I can make the top six I’ll be happy.”