Redding: Bad luck cost me chance at Ducati works seat

Redding, who rides for Ducati satellite team Pramac, has had three retirements in '16 - all brought on by mechanical failures - and has been held back by early-season tyre dramas.

Ducati has already re-signed Andrea Dovizioso to partner marquee arrival Jorge Lorenzo on the works bike for the next two years, while Redding himself is all but confirmed to continue on at Pramac.

"I think my performance has been well, I've just been unlucky," Redding said. "And it's kind of the worst time to have that.

"I'd rather the bike last year break down every f***ing race than break down this year, because it's so important to me this year, and I've actually had the potential to make results, and it's kind of pulled me away

"And I think if I made the results I would've made, I would have possibly been signed for the factory team for next year.

"But, in any case, it hasn't happened, so I need to work another two years and show what I've got to then go there the year after."

Bike uncertainty

While Redding is certain himself and teammate Danilo Petrucci will remain at Pramac in 2017, the team is yet to confirm what bikes it will be using next year.

Pramac's two riders currently compete on year-old Ducati Desmosedici GP15s, and Redding expects to see the works duo's GP16s passed on to Pramac next year.

"I'm not sure what we're getting next year," Redding said. "My expectation is that we're going to get the two factory bikes from this year, passed down, probably with the same engine as this year, not the same as the factory, even though it would be nice to have it.

"As long as the bike's competitive, I couldn't care whether it was three or four years old, as long as it could make the same result. But that ain't the case, so we need to try and get the best material that we can get."

Redding also said that, if himself and Petrucci were handed bikes that were equal to factory machinery, they'd both be performing close to that level.

"I think on potential, me and Danilo, we're quite similar. He has one year more experience than me, so I think I'm not doing too bad.

"He's good for one laptime and in the race he's quite strong, which I can learn stuff from and every race I start to get closer to him.

"And I think if we had the same bikes as the factory, we'd be making the same results.

"When we see the data, we're very close to them, if not sometimes a little bit better."

Additional reporting by Jamie Klein