Britain’s Scott Redding missed a top-five finish in yesterday’s Phillip Island MotoGP by less than a tenth of a second after losing out in a final drag race to the line.

The youngster went into the final corner ahead of team-mate Alvaro Bautista, who he replaced on the factory RC213V next year when it switched to MarcVDS, and Hector Barbera but his production Honda was comprehensively outgunned on grunt to the flag.

“It’s the first race I have enjoyed for three races. I made a big mistake, nearly hitting the back of Hernandez into turn four early on and lost four seconds to the other guys. I was slowly catching and catching, and being consistent with the laptime on the hard tyre," said Redding, speaking at Phillip Island.

“I got back into the group, passed Nicky and Hiro, and then had a play with Alavro and Barbera. I felt pretty good but they were passing me on the straight. I was fighting a lot, overtaking in turn two. It was quite hard but I could have been fifth. I passed Barbera into the last corner and was P5 but the Ducati and Honda passed me. I ended up seventh but I am really happy.”