Scott Redding made his debut aboard the Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V in Qatar this evening, finishing the first MotoGP free practice of 2015, the only session for the premier class tonight, in 12th position on the timesheet and just 1.093s off provisional pole.

The 22-year-old Briton started the session on the hard option tyres, encountering some issues under braking and with the tank cover that was designed specifically to better accommodate Redding’s height.

Redding also tested a number of changes to the set up of the Honda RC213V that he was unable to evaluate during the recent test in Qatar, after the final day was cancelled due to rain.

The Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider posted his fastest lap right at the end of this evening’s 45-minute session, after switching to the softer option tyres, and is confident that there are further improvements to be made in tomorrow’s two free practice sessions.

Scott Redding: 12th – 1’56.374

“We had a couple of small issues with the tank cover and the brakes, so it wasn’t the perfect start, but it was better to get these issues out of the way now. We used the hard tyre at the beginning before switching to the soft at the end, which made a big difference to the lap time. We tried a few different things today that we couldn’t try at the test here because of the rain on the final day, so this was a bit of a last test day for us really. I’m happy enough with today, because we still have room for improvement, so tomorrow the work really starts.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal

“Scott had a couple of small problems at the start of today’s free practice session, but these were quickly rectified by the team. Most of the session was spent testing a couple of changes that we would have tried here at the test if the final day hadn’t been rained off, so to finish just over a second off provisional pole tonight was a reasonable start to the weekend. Tomorrow we return for two more free practice sessions, at the end of which I expect us to be a little higher on the timesheet and closer to the frontrunners.”