Gordon Ritchie | August 29, 2019
Scott Redding (26) is now confirmed as the riding partner of Chaz Davies inside the official Aruba.it Ducati WorldSBK team for the 2020 season, an outcome that has seemed certain for some time.
A two-time MotoGP podium finisher, nearly Moto2 Champion in 2013 and multiple BSB race winner in this his rookie season, Redding will arrive with the highest credentials – and a year’s worth experience of a Ducati V4 R on Pirelli tires.
Cool dude Redding is going back to the world championship in 2020.
“I’m so happy to join the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team, which is something that I’ve wanted for a long time because to be able to work with a team that can fight for a world title is really a great opportunity for me,” said Redding. “Obviously, now I have to remain fully focused on the British Superbike Championship because I want to try and win that title with the Be Wiser Ducati before stepping back up to a world championship again.”
Redding only recently lost his BSB Championship lead to his own teammate Josh Brookes but has impressed everyone with his instant pace and ability to learn quickly. Being a product of the Spanish racing scene from an early age, despite his British nationality, means BSB in 2019 has really been a double learning experience at many circuits.
The 2020 season will also be Redding’s first in WorldSBK and he should not only be an asset in a riding sense, but also as a real one-off character. He very much fits in the mold of the ‘golden’ years of WorldSBK racing, where every top rider could best be described as true individual. Think Slight, Phillis, Falappa, Roche, Merkel, Russell, Tardozzi, Fogarty, through to Edwards, Gobert, Haga…
Alvaro Bautista looks like he’s off to Honda for 2020.
This larger-than-life off-track approach would seem to make him the polar opposite of his soon-to-be new teammate Chaz Davies, but on track they are at least comparable in height and build—something that has not gone unnoticed by Davies, even if he expects to be his own man in the garage like always.
It was not official that it would be Redding with him in 2020 on the final day of the Portimao test last Sunday, but Chaz answered the hypothetical question about Redding as a teammate at that time by saying, “If we have got Scott next door, then actually that is a really good thing for me. I think that this year we have got two ends of the spectrum in size and weight, and possibly different requests. I don’t actually know Scott’s riding style very well; I have never actually ridden on track with him properly. If he is next to me next year (proven to be the case a few days later) then at least we are a similar height and not far away in weight. It is a good thing.”
WorldSBK will be almost all-new for Redding but he does not lack truly top level experience, having started no fewer than 90 full MotoGP races.
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