Scott Redding has admitted he had to dig deep to snatch a front row grid spot for tomorrow’s opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race at Silverstone – as he hailed his rivals’ quick pace.

Redding will line up third on the grid behind the McAMS Yamaha duo of Taz Mackenzie and Jason O’Halloran, and although he maintains that pole would’ve been the dream in his first ever BSB race weekend, he feels happy with where he is at the end of day two.

The boys can really step up the pace when they need to. That’s something that I knew was going to be there but I thought maybe I could get an edge over it.

“But on a track like this it is hard to make lap times,” he told Bikesport News. “I haven’t expected any more and I haven’t expected less. This isn’t a very technical track, so it’s more about the fine details but the boys are fast…these guys are fast by all means.

“If you’d seen any of my media stuff before we got here, I said I didn’t ever expect to come here and wipe up. It’s not easy. I really had to dig deep in the bucket to get on the front row for my first race and tomorrow we have to fight to get on the podium.”

With his second day in the paddock now done, Redding says he is starting to feel a little more at home but is aware that he is still very much under scrutiny from fans and rivals alike.

“I know all eyes are on me but to be quite honest I like the pressure, I can handle that. I’ve always got my best results under those kinds of pressures. 

“In fact it’s not really a pressure, I look at it as support. Now I have a bike that can do it and a team that can do it so now I can show my potential

“I quite enjoy knowing that I’ve got that on my back but I’m having a great time so far. This is real racing. We don’t have electronics or anything, it’s pure man and bike.”