Pramac, Aspar and Forward disappointed to miss out on Scott Redding signing

Pramac Ducati, Aspar Honda and Forward Yamaha management have spoken of their disappointment at missing out on a potential opportunity to sign British rider Scott Redding for the 2015 MotoGP campaign.

Redding’s future was thrown up in the air earlier this year when it emerged his current Gresini Honda squad didn’t have the budget to lease the factory RC213V machine that had been earmarked for Redding next season.

That put him back on the open market in August and immediately the likes of Pramac Ducati, Aspar Honda, Forward Yamaha and Aprilia began negotiating with the 21-year-old.

Redding’s plans for 2015 were finalised during September’s Misano round when it was confirmed he will ride a factory RC213V in the Marc VDS Racing squad, which will run a new MotoGP project in conjunction with its all-conquering Moto2 team.

Pramac Ducati had kept open the seat vacated by Andrea Iannone for over a month in a bid to tempt Redding onto a Desmosedici next season.

And Pramac boss Francesco Guidotti told MCN: “When he signed for Honda it was bad news for us but something we expected. He is very young and talented and he knows how to win races and fought for the Moto2 title, so he has all the skills to be a top rider in MotoGP. I would have really liked to work with Scott and I was really excited about the prospect of him coming to us.”

Aspar Honda had also delayed signing Eugene Laverty to partner Nicky Hayden until it knew Redding was unavailable. Aspar team boss Gino Borsoi told MCN: “We were disappointed because he is a really good rider and Scott in our team would have been amazing for us.”

And Forward boss Giovanni Cuzari said he had made Redding a formal offer to partner Stefan Bradl on an Open class YZR-M1 before clinching a late deal with French rider Loris Baz.

Cuzari told MCN: “Scott was the perfect choice for us and we were very close. We made him a formal offer but then it all changed but it would have been great to have got him to join us.”