Thruxton poleman Scott Redding revealed he had to blank out mid-session threats of rain and grit his teeth to clinch the top Bennetts British Superbike qualifying spot.

While the fastest lap of the afternoon went to Andrew Irwin, the Be Wiser Ducati ace clocked a quick one when it counted in the final minutes of Q3 as wet weather hit portions of the circuit.

Redding admitted that although he wasn’t quite comfortable with the intermittent conditions at a circuit which was completely new to him until yesterday, he believes the risk of lapping early doors in the third session paid off.

“That was scary when the rain drops came, I’m not gonna lie,” the PBM rider said. “I can’t say I don’t know the slick tyre in the rain because of the Knockhill race, but it’s a different track and I hadn’t a clue what it was like.

Everybody was saying, ‘Oh it’s super grippy, don’t worry about it’ – which is fine – but when you’re seeing rain spots and you’re doing 150 miles an hour and you can see the walls around the outside, it does take your mind off it a little bit, but you’ve got to blank it out.

“I took a risk by staying out at the beginning because I thought if it got worse then I thought ‘I know the guys came in, they’re saving their tyres’. But it worked out pretty well in the end so I’m really happy that we managed to get the pole today.

“It wasn’t what I expected, I knew it’d be close but guys have done mega and I’m happy.”