Scott Redding straight up to speed as he makes Ducati WorldSBK debut

Scott Redding set an impressive pace out of the box on his WorldSBK machinery debut during the first day of post-season testing at Motorland Aragon, finishing up behind only Jonathan Rea on the timesheets.

There were several talking as the countdown towards the 2020 WorldSBK season began in earnest with nine riders making the journey to Spain, six of which debuting in new surroundings.

However, the focus was predominantly on British Superbike Champion and former MotoGP rider Redding, who was getting his first outing on the factory Ducati Panigale V4 R.

Though a damp morning conspired to limit running over the course of the day, Redding laid the foundations for the months ahead by completing 51 laps of the Spanish venue – only two riders completed more.

By the end of the day, quintuple WorldSBK Champion Rea took his customary spot at the head of the timesheets on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, but he was run close by Redding, whose 1m 50.868secs lap was only four tenths adrift of the series’ dominant figure.

That placed him ahead of Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark – who gave the new R1 a positive debut run - and fellow Ducati rider Chaz Davies in third and fourth, one and three tenths behind the newly promoted Briton.

Making his first appearance in Yamaha colours. Toprak Razgatlioglu was fifth fastest, four tenths behind van der Mark, while new Kawasaki signing Alex Lowes dialled in his ZX-10RR in sixth.

The rebranded GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team broke cover with its two new riders, Garrett Gerloff in an eye-catching seventh on his first outing at both the circuit and on Pirelli tyres. Barni Ducati’s new signing Leon Camier and Gerloff’s team-mate Federico Caricasulo rounded out the timesheets.

WorldSBK Motorland Aragon Test - RESULTS