A massive crowd of close to 91,000 fans witnessed Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Scott Redding battle to a hard fought 11th place finish in this afternoon’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

An aggressive first lap from the 22-year-old moved him into the early fight for the top 10 from 17th on the grid. But all of Redding’s hard work was undone when he ran wide at the first turn on lap two and dropped down the order to 19th.

Quickly back into his rhythm, Redding set about charging back towards the top 10 when a lack of rear grip and agility with his Honda RC213V machine through Mugello’s series of fast changes of directions halted his challenge.

Redding crossed the line in 11th place to score points for the fourth time in six races, and he is confident of a stronger top 10 challenge when the 2015 World Championship resumes in Barcelona next month.

Scott Redding: 11th

"I'm disappointed because the race obviously didn’t pan out as I’d expected. After the Warm-Up I thought I could be fighting for the top 10 and I made a good start and made up some places on the first lap. But on lap two I went deep into the first corner and lost all the places I’d gained. I couldn’t get the rear tyre to work at the beginning to go with the group in front. And the track was quite greasy and the bike felt heavy and I was struggling to change direction. I need to improve but we will continue working hard and sticking together to help me be more competitive."

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal

"It was another very difficult race and we just don’t have the pace that the others in front of us have. Scott got stuck behind the Ducatis and with their speed on the straight here it is very difficult to overtake them. This upsets his rhythm but he was not able to keep a fast pace in the second half of the race. We have to perform better than we are at the moment because, with our equipment, we have to be finishing higher up the order."