The first WorldSBK race day at San Juan in Argentina started well for Scott Redding and his factory Ducati with pole position but any lingering hopes that Redding had of fighting his way into the title race again were almost certainly ended by a crash into turn one of lap one, as soon as he tapped on the power.
That Superpole win - only the second of his career - was unexpected at a circuit he had never been to before, but welcome for Redding in what will be his penultimate event for Ducati before he joins BMW in 2022.
“Yeah. It was unexpected, really,” said Redding after the first race. “Even I was surprised I didn’t get my final laps qualifying, which was three-tenths faster but they didn’t show it because I passed the finish line, but there was no flag out. So, happy that I got the pole. I was feeling quite good for the race, but I knew I would have a couple of issues. The feeling with the front is something that I’ve been struggling with a bit this weekend. But to take pole position is always nice.”
Jonathan Rea had a close-up view of Redding’s crash and said he had run off line onto the dust but Redding has a different viewpoint in some ways. “I need to check the crash because I don't think I was off line. Toprak was further away than me, then I touched the throttle and the rear came around really fast. It was really unexpected. Nothing to say. Nothing to do. Pick the bike up, get your head down, and try and come back through. That’s all I could do, to be honest. That was that. Get to start on pole tomorrow for the Superpole race. The championship is too far stretched now, so that’s out the window so every race is just a battle for the win.”
Redding’s chances of a top-three finish in the Superpole race are greatly enhanced after showing the race pace he had to come back through from absolutely last to ninth, ahead of Haslam, Davies, Laverty…
“I believe I have the pace to go on the podium,” said Redding. “We knew that Toprak had a little bit more pace, but sometimes you see a few things. I’m still new to this circuit and I haven’t followed anyone still. I was supposed to use that race to kind of see. Let’s see tomorrow for the Superpole race. I’ll be battling everything to take the win.”
Partly because it is a long haul round, and partly because they had data and knowledge from two previous rounds there in 2018 and ’19, Pirelli brought only two choices of front and rear tyres, all of them within the standard range - an SCX and an SC0 rear, then an SC1 and an SC2 front.
Far from being disappointed Redding said, “Personally, I think it’s better. It makes it a little bit more easier when everyone is kind of the same tyres. It makes it a bit more fair. On the other hand, maybe a different tyre can help in some areas. But, if everyone’s got the same, then you have to work with what you’ve got.”
