Britain’s Scott Redding this week faces the challenge of MotoGP’s change to radically different rules for 2016 as the 25 riders and dozen teams take part in two days of testing on the 2.489-mile Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia.
New tyre supplier Michelin replaces Bridgestone, and the complex rules of 2015 - incomprehensible to the general public - are replaced by regulations that are intended to provide clarity and fairness. All teams will now use the same ECU unit, and all will run with 22-litres of fuel.
The teams’ greatest challenge in pre-season testing will be to adapt as quickly as possible to this new world: let’s call this week’s tests the “Adaptation Grand Prix”.
Britain’s 22-year-old hope Scott Redding will be at the core of this scenario, with greater problems than most to confront. The Gloucestershire rider is switching from a Honda RC213V run by the Marc VDS team to a Pramac Ducati.
Both machines are 1000cc V4s, but the Ducati benefits from its unique desmodromic valve-operating system compared to the Honda’s pneumatic arrangement.
Redding hopes that his move to the Italian bikes, as one of eight riders in a huge four-team Ducati effort in 2016, will be rewarded by a better season than the disappointing year he had on the Honda.
