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Redding: MotoGP was "finished for me" before Aprilia offer
Scott Redding has admitted that his MotoGP career looked to be "finished" before he received an offer to join Aprilia for the 2018 season.
Jamie Klein willyzinck
Edited: Oct 10, 2017, 10:46 AM
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Pramac rider Redding, who will be replaced at the satellite Ducati squad by Jack Miller next year, will move across to join Aprilia to replace compatriot Sam Lowes in 2018.
Miller's deal to join Pramac was struck at the Sachsenring immediately before the summer break, and the British rider was soon linked to a return to the Marc VDS team that he raced for 2015.
However, speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, Redding admitted that, at the time, he had no other options to stay in MotoGP on the table and feared it meant the end of his premier class career.
"After Sachsenring, for me there was nothing there," he said. "It was finished, MotoGP was finished for me. It was a s*** race and a s*** weekend.
"Before it [the Aprilia deal] was announced, I had the summer break to reset, to sort out many things out of racing.
"I had many things to sort out that I managed to sort out, and I had to work on my mindset, my riding, how to prepare myself to work more.
"When you are in this kind of category, with the best guys in the world, if you're weak, you suffer. That's how it is.
"So you need to get back and prepare a comeback and fighting again, and that's what I managed to do."
Redding didn't have "tools" for 2015 Aprilia ride
Aprilia will mark Redding's third different manufacturer in four seasons, the 24-year-old having previously ridden for Honda as well as Ducati.
The Noale manufacturer had previously approached Redding about a ride for its return MotoGP season in 2015, but was turned down.
He highlighted Moto2 graduate Lowes' struggles to adapt to the RS-GP this year as evidence that he was correct to reject Aprilia at the time, adding that he now has the "tools" he needs to be successful there.
"Aprilia offered me a very good contract when I first came in MotoGP, but I didn't feel like I was ready to go to a factory bike which was not developed," admitted Redding. "It's a bad combination.
"Look at Sam this year - it's difficult if you don't know any other bike, if you don't know carbon brakes, if you don't know the electronics, if you don't know these tyres. How can he improve? That was what I was scared of.
"[Whereas now] I've been to Honda, with Bridgestone, I've been to Ducati, with Michelin. It's two different bikes I can judge, so I can say: 'OK, with Aprilia this is good, or this is bad.
"So that's experience, I have information. But when you have no information, you cannot improve. It's like you have your toolbox: if you have no tools inside, you can't solve the problem.
"[That's] what I had to wait for. I didn't want to be eager, take the money from Aprilia and then after two years be sacked because I couldn't help them.
"Now I have the chance to help them, I believe I can improve the bike alongside Aleix [Espargaro], and we will see what happens."
Interview by Willy Zinck
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