Scott Redding gets new Moto2 team-mate

Scott Redding will start the inaugural Moto2 world championship in Qatar next week with a new team-mate in the Belgian-based Marc VDS Racing squad.

A series of disappointing testing performances on board the Suter MMX machine have cost Vincent Lonbois his place alongside Redding for the 2010 campaign.

Spaniard Hector Faubel has been thrown an 11th hour lifeline having been drafted into ride for the Marc VDS squad in the new 600cc four-stroke class.

Lonbois, who finished third in the 2009 European Superstock Championship, failed dismally to adapt to the Suter MMX machine and the 19-year-old often left languishing near the bottom of the timesheets.

In contrast, Gloucestershire rider Redding was making rapid progress and after a disappointing start to winter testing and he ended with a brilliant fourth place in the final test in Jerez last month.

Faubel has an impressive track record in Grand Prix racing. The 26-year-old rider, from Valencia, finished second in the 2007 125cc world championship standings and finished ninth overall in the final 250cc title fight last year.

He had initially planned to race in the Moto2 class with the SAG squad but his hopes collapsed through financial difficulties.

Marc VDS Racing team boss Michael Bartholemy said: “It was obvious from the start of pre-season testing that Vincent was struggling to adapt to the Moto2 bike after a career on production machinery.

“We had hoped that he’d get to grips with the bike during the final IRTA test at Jerez but the lap times just hadn’t improved by the end of the three-days and Vincent still looked very uncomfortable on the bike.

“It was obvious to the team, and also to Vincent himself, that his riding style simply doesn’t suit our particular Moto2 bike.

“Replacing Vincent before the start of the season was a hard decision to make, as we are a Belgian team and we wanted to field a Belgian rider, but it was the right decision for the team and also for Vincent as well.

“We came into the Moto2 world championship determined to be competitive as a team, and that requires two riders capable of running at the front of a race.

“I am confident that Hector, with years of Grand Prix experience behind him, will adapt quickly to the Suter MMX machine.

“Without the benefit of pre-season testing this will take him a little time, sure, but I expect him to be fully up to speed by the time we return to Europe for the third race of the season; the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.”

For a full 32-page glossy preview to the new MotoGP season, see Wednesday’s MCN out on Wednesday, April 7.