Scott Redding upbeat despite lowly finish

British teenager Scott Redding declared himself happy with progress on his Marc VDS Racing Moto2 machine despite finishing a lowly 28th at the first official test in Valencia.

Using Honda’s new spec CBR600RR motor for the first time, Redding logged a best time of 1.39.198 at the rain-hit three-day test to finish just over two seconds off the best pace.

Redding spent the majority of his time trying to alleviate a chatter issue that dogged him on his Suter MMX machine debut in Catalunya last month.

The 17-year-old, who only signed a deal with the Belgian-based squad at the end of December, said: “The weather was pretty changeable, and we’ve had a few issues with the bike over the three days, so we didn’t get quite as much track time as we were hoping for here in Valencia.

“Having said that, I’m pretty happy with how far we’ve progressed. We think we’ve found the cause of the chatter that was a problem in Catalunya, but rain on the last day meant that we weren’t able to confirm this.

“We should be able to confirm the set-up changes at Jerez, where I’m determined to try and close further on the guys at the top of the timesheet.

“We need to continue with improving the set-up, sure, but I also need to start opening the throttle and pushing for a fast lap time now.

“We’ve still got six days of testing before the start of the season but I need to start pushing from this point onwards, to make sure we’re well and truly on the pace for the first race in Qatar.”

Redding is back on track when testing resumes this Saturday at the Jerez circuit.