Scott Redding’s final season in MotoGP was in 2018, when he was racing for Aprilia. At that time, the Noale manufacturer was still competing in collaboration with the Gresini team and the results and performance of the bike were very far from the current ones.
Indeed, fighting to enter the top ten was already a significant achievement at the time, and Redding achieved a best result of 11th. After that difficult year, he completely changed direction in his career: he moved to the British Superbike Championship (BSB) and in 2020 joined the World Superbike Championship, where he continues to this day.
The British rider recalled that tough 2018 season with Aprilia, admitting to the GPOne.com website that he was close to putting an end to his career, after all the bad feelings he felt:
– Aprilia almost destroyed me and almost forced me to retire. It’s painful to accept that millions of people around the world are watching you and you know you can do certain things, but the bike physically doesn’t allow you. There was no way out, I had to stay there and it was humiliating for me. Inside I felt like I was in a circus.
Regardless, Redding used the challenging experience to learn and grow as a driver, as he stated: ‘I’ve learned a lot and it’s part of my growth and my career, but I don’t think anything can come close to what it was at that time and I don’t think I’ll end up in that position again‘.
