Scott Redding has come home… now we need WorldSBK title - Ducati

Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall’Igna says the manufacturer ‘needs’ to win the WorldSBK title after seeing the 2019 championship slip through its fingers, but believes Scott Redding is the man that can deliver on that objective.

Despite retaining a grip on the all-time WorldSBK champions list with 17 manufacturers titles and 14 riders’ titles (Kawasaki is next up on five), Ducati hasn’t topped the overall classification since 2011 with Carlos Checa and even then that was via a works-assisted satellite Althea Racing effort.

Instead, you need to go back to Troy Bayliss in 2008 for its last full factory WorldSBK title, a drought Ducati expected to come to an end in 2019 when Alvaro Bautista – armed with the new Ducati Panigale V4 R – fired out of the blocks with 11 straight wins.

However, the success dried up as the year wore on and Ducati was comprehensively outperformed by Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki in the latter half of the season, the Ulsterman wrapping up a fifth consecutive title.

For 2020, the Aruba.it Ducati entrusts the bid to end that long wait with Redding and the re-signed Chaz Davies, with Dall’Igna – who has won titles at WorldSBK level with Aprilia – tasking them with achieving nothing less than the title.

"We've missed this championship for a long time now,” he told Visordown’s sister publication Crash.net. “Scott and Chaz have to fight to try to catch this title, because we need it.”

Scott Redding ‘comes home’ to Ducati

After being unceremoniously axed from the Aprilia MotoGP team at the end of the 2018 season, Redding turned his attentions to Superbike racing with a surprise switch to the British Superbike Championship.

The title duly followed, earning Redding a direct promotion within the Ducati ranks onto its WorldSBK machine in place of the Honda-bound Bautista. He got his first test on the Panigale V4 R on Wednesday and showed impressive pace straight away, only four tenths shy of Rea.

A return to the Ducati Corse fold after he competed with Pramac in 2016 and 2017, Dall’Igna is delighted to have Redding back in the world championship squad and fully believes he – along with Davies – will be taking the fight to Kawasaki in the 2020 WorldSBK.

"I think that Scott and the team did a great job in BSB this year,” he continued. “I was not surprised because I know Scott's capabilities, but still it's not easy and he did a fantastic job,"

"So I'm really happy about that championship and also that he has joined our factory team in World Superbike for next season.

"In the end, Scott has come home I think. Because we worked together in MotoGP a few years ago and maintained a good relationship."