[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https://cdn.crash.net/2026-04/ih_bsb_oulton-park-test_16807.jpg?width=1600&aspect_ratio=16:9″]
Scott Redding: 2026 BSB Ducati “the same, just better” than 2025
Scott Redding was second on the time sheets at the Oulton Park BSB test despite missing the opening test at Donington.
Scott Redding brought up the rear in a Ducati 1-2 on the second day of the Oulton Park BSB test.
Redding, like fastest-overall Kyle Ryde, did not ride his race bike at the Donington test two-and-a-half weeks previously, although, unlike Ryde, Redding didn’t ride at Donington at all.
Both riders are encountering a new bike for 2026 in the shape of the updated Ducati Panigale V4 R, although Redding’s career has brought him much more Ducati experience than what Ryde has gained.
Redding has also experienced change at Ducati in the past, having ridden the factory bike in World Superbike in 2020 and 2021, and then returned to the brand in 2025 after three years at BMW.
The model update from 2025 to 2026 is a bigger step than the evolution the previous generation went through from 2021 to 2025, Redding thinks.
“Last year’s bike to this year’s bike is probably the biggest difference,” Scott Redding told Crash.net after the Oulton Park BSB test.
“It feels basically the same, just better.
“So, it’s still going to have its weak points, but I feel like they’re not a weak as they were, which is good.
“We’ve got to maximise the bike a bit more, I don’t feel like we’re at the full potential of the bike, either. There’s a limited time to change, we literally played around with suspension and that was it.
“So many more geometry things we can change and try to improve, but we’ve got time to figure that out.
“Going racing in a week or two, we needed to have a bike that was a base that we could kind of get around and be floating around the podium positions.”
Redding added that he’d expected to be able to apply the settings from last year’s bike to the new model, but it turned out to be a bigger difference.
“With the new bike we had to start to work in a different direction,” he said.
“I thought we would get away with the settings of last year in the bike, but actually we’ve got to change it quite a lot.
“So, we’re just figuring that out.”
Having missed the Donington test completely, Redding’s off-season was effectively two-and-a-half weeks longer than it was for most of his competition. Regaining bike fitness is therefore among his priorities ahead of round one on 3–5 May.
“More physically feeling it than riding,” he said.
“It was nice to have a long break, to be honest. I was skeptical how I would go, but I felt good straight away on a riding ability.
“Being at a track I enjoy but it’s not ‘my track’, per se, so happy to extract the lap time that we did. Managed to extract the lap time, which I was quite surprised because I didn’t feel like I was on my full limit – always in testing I don’t push over the limit, really, so I felt like the lap time was maybe four-tenths slower than it actually was, so that’s a good thing.
“I feel like the bike was working well but not perfect, so to finish up with being more comfortable than I was yesterday and this morning, it sets me up good for the first round.
“So, the main thing is just getting that bike fitness in, I was always doing longer runs yesterday which I paid the toll for today but it is what it is; and I was just riding a lot of old tyres, really, just trying to get my head back into riding a little bit, then put a freshy [fresh tyre] in and did what we had to do.”
In this article
More News
Scott Redding “speechless” after “the best” race win at Oulton Park
2025 British Superbikes: Oulton Park (Showdown) – Race Results (3)
Scott Redding had to “wing it” out front to collect win 150 for PBM in Assen
2025 British Superbikes: Assen – Race Results (1)
BSB sprints not Scott Redding’s “strong point” but “I like being in these races”
Scott Redding gives “payback” to Leon Haslam with last lap move at Donington Park
Scott Redding was second on the time sheets at the Oulton Park BSB test despite missing the opening test at Donington.
Scott Redding brought up the rear in a Ducati 1-2 on the second day of the Oulton Park BSB test.
Redding, like fastest-overall Kyle Ryde, did not ride his race bike at the Donington test two-and-a-half weeks previously, although, unlike Ryde, Redding didn’t ride at Donington at all.
Both riders are encountering a new bike for 2026 in the shape of the updated Ducati Panigale V4 R, although Redding’s career has brought him much more Ducati experience than what Ryde has gained.
Redding has also experienced change at Ducati in the past, having ridden the factory bike in World Superbike in 2020 and 2021, and then returned to the brand in 2025 after three years at BMW.
The model update from 2025 to 2026 is a bigger step than the evolution the previous generation went through from 2021 to 2025, Redding thinks.
“Last year’s bike to this year’s bike is probably the biggest difference,” Scott Redding told Crash.net after the Oulton Park BSB test.
“It feels basically the same, just better.
“So, it’s still going to have its weak points, but I feel like they’re not a weak as they were, which is good.
“We’ve got to maximise the bike a bit more, I don’t feel like we’re at the full potential of the bike, either. There’s a limited time to change, we literally played around with suspension and that was it.
“So many more geometry things we can change and try to improve, but we’ve got time to figure that out.
“Going racing in a week or two, we needed to have a bike that was a base that we could kind of get around and be floating around the podium positions.”
Redding added that he’d expected to be able to apply the settings from last year’s bike to the new model, but it turned out to be a bigger difference.
“With the new bike we had to start to work in a different direction,” he said.
“I thought we would get away with the settings of last year in the bike, but actually we’ve got to change it quite a lot.
“So, we’re just figuring that out.”
Having missed the Donington test completely, Redding’s off-season was effectively two-and-a-half weeks longer than it was for most of his competition. Regaining bike fitness is therefore among his priorities ahead of round one on 3–5 May.
“More physically feeling it than riding,” he said.
“It was nice to have a long break, to be honest. I was skeptical how I would go, but I felt good straight away on a riding ability.
“Being at a track I enjoy but it’s not ‘my track’, per se, so happy to extract the lap time that we did. Managed to extract the lap time, which I was quite surprised because I didn’t feel like I was on my full limit – always in testing I don’t push over the limit, really, so I felt like the lap time was maybe four-tenths slower than it actually was, so that’s a good thing.
“I feel like the bike was working well but not perfect, so to finish up with being more comfortable than I was yesterday and this morning, it sets me up good for the first round.
“So, the main thing is just getting that bike fitness in, I was always doing longer runs yesterday which I paid the toll for today but it is what it is; and I was just riding a lot of old tyres, really, just trying to get my head back into riding a little bit, then put a freshy [fresh tyre] in and did what we had to do.”
Scott Redding brought up the rear in a Ducati 1-2 on the second day of the Oulton Park BSB test.
Redding, like fastest-overall Kyle Ryde, did not ride his race bike at the Donington test two-and-a-half weeks previously, although, unlike Ryde, Redding didn’t ride at Donington at all.
Both riders are encountering a new bike for 2026 in the shape of the updated Ducati Panigale V4 R, although Redding’s career has brought him much more Ducati experience than what Ryde has gained.
Redding has also experienced change at Ducati in the past, having ridden the factory bike in World Superbike in 2020 and 2021, and then returned to the brand in 2025 after three years at BMW.
The model update from 2025 to 2026 is a bigger step than the evolution the previous generation went through from 2021 to 2025, Redding thinks.
“Last year’s bike to this year’s bike is probably the biggest difference,” Scott Redding told Crash.net after the Oulton Park BSB test.
“It feels basically the same, just better.
“So, it’s still going to have its weak points, but I feel like they’re not a weak as they were, which is good.
“We’ve got to maximise the bike a bit more, I don’t feel like we’re at the full potential of the bike, either. There’s a limited time to change, we literally played around with suspension and that was it.
“So many more geometry things we can change and try to improve, but we’ve got time to figure that out.
“Going racing in a week or two, we needed to have a bike that was a base that we could kind of get around and be floating around the podium positions.”
Redding added that he’d expected to be able to apply the settings from last year’s bike to the new model, but it turned out to be a bigger difference.
“With the new bike we had to start to work in a different direction,” he said.
“I thought we would get away with the settings of last year in the bike, but actually we’ve got to change it quite a lot.
“So, we’re just figuring that out.”
Having missed the Donington test completely, Redding’s off-season was effectively two-and-a-half weeks longer than it was for most of his competition. Regaining bike fitness is therefore among his priorities ahead of round one on 3–5 May.
“More physically feeling it than riding,” he said.
“It was nice to have a long break, to be honest. I was skeptical how I would go, but I felt good straight away on a riding ability.
“Being at a track I enjoy but it’s not ‘my track’, per se, so happy to extract the lap time that we did. Managed to extract the lap time, which I was quite surprised because I didn’t feel like I was on my full limit – always in testing I don’t push over the limit, really, so I felt like the lap time was maybe four-tenths slower than it actually was, so that’s a good thing.
“I feel like the bike was working well but not perfect, so to finish up with being more comfortable than I was yesterday and this morning, it sets me up good for the first round.
“So, the main thing is just getting that bike fitness in, I was always doing longer runs yesterday which I paid the toll for today but it is what it is; and I was just riding a lot of old tyres, really, just trying to get my head back into riding a little bit, then put a freshy [fresh tyre] in and did what we had to do.”
[analyse_source url=”http://crash.net/bsb/news/1093295/1/scott-redding-2026-bsb-ducati-same-just-better-2025″]