For a time the second row WorldSBK start for Scott Redding on the BMW M1000RR looked like it would deliver him a top five finish in Estoril race one, but as his front tyre got used up too heavily he dropped back to finish eighth.

But while it lasted, with this level of competition, it looked like some extra good BMW news after Michael van der Mark had been ruled out for some time with a right leg fracture near the hip joint.

“The front tyre was my biggest issue in that race,” said Redding of his first race experience on track over 21-laps. “The rear felt quite okay. The front tyre just after 11, 12 laps started dropping, only on the right side. So, I missed a lot in the last corner. Also turns two and three. I could feel the Hondas breathing down my neck. I was just trying to do everything I could to survive, but there was actually too many laps to defend, especially with the last corner, the long right. There was nothing I could do.”

A bad start from his second row grid slot angered Redding enough that he put in the extra effort in the early laps, as he described. “The beginning of the race, I felt quite good. I had a bad start. Something that we’re working on is to try to get better starts with the bike.

“In Portimao (at a recent test) we made a step, but here it seems we’re working a little bit different. So, we need to modify some things to improve because if we can get off the start from the second row you’ve done a lot of work already. That’s why I was happy with the qualifying today. I said on the grid to myself, ‘this is what you wanted, second row. So, now you need to do something with it.’ Made the start, then it starts getting messy and can’t get off the line. Then I just attacked like hell for the first two laps to try and recover position, try to see if I can get on the back of Locatelli. Didn’t quite get there, but I was able to hold a good pace. I could keep him in sight all the time. Then after that, when the front tyre was dropping, nothing more to do. That was the end of it for me today.”

It looked like a disaster in the first round for BMW and especially for Redding, but a promising then decent Assen was one stage of improvement. On a very different track in Estoril, a very different track, and all of a sudden Redding seemed to be there. Was it all down to that test?
Redding disagreed, “In Assen I felt pretty good. The team was deciding that we should go in another way with the setup. We felt okay in Assen. In the last race we ended up with what I felt was right before, and I did my best result of the weekend. Was it right, was it wrong? No. We’re just finding direction. Then we went to Portimao for the test, and I felt good on the bike straightaway.

"I feel more like myself on the bike, if that makes sense. I can ride with the rear lifting. I feel good with the throttle connection. In the beginning, everything was just wrong. I said my first comment, everything is just different. Everything. Now I get on and most things feel how I think they should feel, so I can ride to my ability. Then with the setting we’ve made a few things in Portimao.”

Redding is, like when he raced the Ducati in WorldSBK, avoiding trying too many things now they are nearer the non top three ballpark riders. “The team came with another package for me to try. I said, ‘this feels good for me. I can use this’. We came here and it was good. Wanted to try, I said ‘just leave it’. Same like I did last year. Got to a point I said ‘just leave it and let me ride’ and we see we made steps.

“In the qualifying I actually felt for the first time this year the Q working like a Q tyre and I could make the lap time. So, since Assen a little bit, I kind of reached a limit that was it. Here and Portimao from the test, I felt like my limit was able to be passed. Before I said it’s just a limit and there’s nothing more I can do. Now I feel I can do things different on the bike to make me improve the lap time, which is a good place to be in.”

The human element, the rider feel and understanding is always the most important aspect of taking on a new challenge on an unfamiliar bike, especially one with an engine configuration Redding has never raced on before. His new inline four cylinder machine cannot be exactly the same in feel as all his previous V4 engine experiences.

“It can’t be, but I’m able now to start to ride it like I was,” explained Redding. “So, it allows me to ride how I want. Naturally, I will ride like the V4. I’ve been on it for so long. It’s normal.

“Why can’t an inline four ride the same? It’s not that it can’t, it just needs to understand how to. That’s when I start to feel comfortable because I can actually do things that for me naturally are correct. That’s why here I’ve been consistently faster and I’ve been feeling good.

"Even though I finished eighth, I enjoyed to ride the bike. It’s one of the first times I actually enjoyed because I could push in the way I am able to push. The last seven laps, okay it’s the front tyre, but at least I have that feeling in my hands that I’m in control of the situation and I’m able to make the difference.”

The gap to the top guys, even for a regular race winner like Redding has been, is still big. Like a second per lap big. Scott is fully aware, despite all the recent improvements.

“Yup. It’s too big, but them first three guys, they made the step,” said Redding. “That’s where it was even last year. It was the same sort of deal. It was the Kawasaki, Ducati, Yamaha. Them guys go, and fourth, fifth, sixth are making a battle. Some places the gap can be closer, but when you look back in general, it was always three getting away. Just now seems like the gap is a little bit bigger.”