MotoGP: Redding sets podium target for 2015

British youngster Scott Redding has set his sights on claiming a MotoGP podium during his first season on a factory specification bike.

A race winner in 125cc and Moto2, the 22-year-old stepped up to the premier division in 2014 aboard a Gresini-run Open-class Honda, finishing 12th in the standings with a pair of sevenths his best results. In 2015, he gets a factory bike, as Marc VDS takes over the fourth works-specification Honda previously fielded by Gresini.

"2014 was a bit of an annoying season for me, because I was told that it was a bike that was going to be capable of good results, but then we got the bike and it wasn't what they said it was," Redding told AUTOSPORT. "We didn't have an opportunity to fight at the front like Aleix Espargaro, and riding the wheels off the bike to just get in the points was a bit demoralizzing.

"This year, getting a bike which can win races has given me a big boost. I'd like to go top-six or top-seven in the championship, get closer to the frontrunners at every race, and it'd be nice to get on the podium once or twice during the season."

Redding was 10th and 13th in the two completed days of Qatar's final pre-season test, before the third was rained out. It capped a winter of learning for both Redding on his new bike and Marc VDS in its first MotoGP season, which starts this Sunday.

"It's quite a big change, really," he said of the move from an Open to factory bike, "especially getting the pick-up off the edge of the tire, the braking technique and stuff like that. It takes time.

"In the beginning, my crew chief was a bit on the fence when I said, 'Just let me ride the bike, don't change anything!' during the first test in Sepang. We didn't change a click on the suspension, the springs or anything. We just rode the bike and gave it tires and fuel.

"Even now riding the bike, I feel like I'm not pushing it to 100 percent of its potential, so we haven't really changed anything, which is why we could have done with the extra day of testing. Aside from that, we're happy with how it's all gone so far."

Originally on Autosport.com