WorldSBK ‘better with Redding at the front’, leaving Ducati out of his hands

Despite being in the midst of winning races and challenging Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea in the championship, Redding left Ducati to join BMW for 2022.

And after the opening four rounds of this season the results have been far from what was expected, in fact, Redding had claimed just one top five finish in 12 races, something he achieved eight times at this stage last year. 

Redding’s decision to join BMW was largely based on Ducati wanting to move on, which they did with the re-signing of Alvaro Bautista who currently leads the world championship by 36 points. 

Although he claimed more wins with Honda, Toseland also enjoyed most of his success in WorldSBK with Ducati. The former two-time champion, who like Redding rode for BMW during his Superbike career, was one of many people who believed Redding’s switch to the German marque was going to prove difficult, which has so far been proved right. 

Speaking to Crash.net, Toseland said: "It’s been the worst situation with the fallout from the decision they made last year. You couldn’t have imagined the BMW struggling to get points in the first round. 

"I don’t think he even scored a point in Aragon and then you’ve got the bike that you left winning by three or four seconds. 

"I had a strong opinion on it because I did ride a factory Ducati and I did ride a BMW. Believe me, I sweated a lot more on one than the other [laughs]. But, I don’t think he had a choice. I think that’s the thing that was not really clear. 

"I think his time was up at Ducati and he did have to find another opportunity. With Kawasaki’s door being shut and Yamaha - that wasn’t going to be open because Locatelli had a fantastic opening year. Then… what other package would you sign for? 

"He would have had a choice with Honda, he would have had a choice with BMW and with a few other teams because he was battling in the top three with Ducati. 

"Choices wouldn’t have been a problem but choices with what he would actually want maybe, was another thing."

Redding should be challenging for WorldSBK wins and not battling for tenth - Toseland

It’s clear that Redding’s first two seasons in WorldSBK were enough to suggest he could be a world champion. 

Regularly out-performing team-mate Michael Rinaldi, while on his day being too much for Rea and Razgatlioglu to beat. 

Despite the current championship battle involving Bautista, Rea and Razgatlioglu which is arguably the best we’ve ever seen, having Redding join that fight would only enhance the already incredible racing we’re seeing in Superbikes, according to Toseland.

"I do feel for him because; whether you’re a fan or not, Scott Redding is one of the best riders in Superbikes and more importantly, or just as important, he’s one of the biggest showmen in Superbikes," claimed Toseland.

"The show is better if Redding is at the front of it and not in tenth. The thing that’s difficult to make a judgment on is Michael Van Der Mark's unfortunate injury. If Van Der Mark was fit and on it, then we could really see and judge what Scott was doing. 

"But we can’t really judge what Scott’s been up to and also BMW have lost their main man on direction to go in. Look what Honda did, they had Haslam and Bautista and they both had ridden for different manufacturers and were coming [to the team] with a Honda that wasn’t really doing what they wanted. 

"So they were trying to do on those bikes what the bikes they were on before did. They were trying to make that package into something they remembered and I’m sure that the only thing BMW have had this year is Scott Redding trying to make that bike do what a Ducati did. 

"Honda knew that they were going to change the forks, change the brakes and they wanted two talented riders with no base setting at all and just to develop that package. That was a risk but very clever from Honda."