Marc VDS Racing jubilant after Scott Redding’s home win

Scott Redding’s Marc VDS Racing boss Michael Bartholemy admitted watching the highly rated British rider win his home Moto2 round at Silverstone (yesterday) was one of the most nerve-wracking races he’s ever witnessed.

Redding’s third win of 2013 could prove pivotal in his title showdown with Spaniard Pol Espargaro, who limped home in a lowly eighth.

With just six races remaining, Redding holds a 38-point lead over Espargaro and with many more nervy moments to follow in the final third of the season, Bartholemy is not sure how he will cope with the tension.

The former factory Kawasaki MotoGP boss, who is also Redding’s personal manager, told MCN: “It was one of the most nervous races of my life and at the end I was almost feeling like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. This pressure feeling is now coming more and more with the championship coming closer.

I am starting to having sleepless nights but maybe I should worry a bit less. I know that Scott wanted to win this race and show to the British fans what a great rider he is. And now he is moving to MotoGP it is good for the whole country to see him doing this.”

Redding, who will move to MotoGP in 2014 on board a new production Honda for the Italian-based Gresini squad, has now won twice on home soil.

His Silverstone Moto2 triumph follows his win in the 2008 125GP at Donington Park, proving he is not daunted by the pressure and expectation of racing in front of a massive home crowd.

Almost 74,000 fans were on the edge of their seats for 18-laps as Redding superbly held off Takaaki Nakagami and Thomas Luthi to add to his victories in Le Mans and Mugello.

Bartholemy said there had been no pressure on Redding from his Belgian-based squad to win and he said: “There was never any pressure or expectation from us. We just tried to keep things really normal and even on Saturday we were choosing his motorhome for MotoGP, so we did things that he could enjoy and not think about the race too much.

Before coming here I knew he could get on the podium. Last year he made a great race when he beat (Marc) Marquez at the last corner but Espargaro won by quite a big gap last year, so I was a bit worried about him. But when I saw he was struggling on Friday I was pretty sure we would be challenging to win the race.”

Bartholemy though certainly won’t be able to relax, with the title race heading to Misano later this month.

He added: “We still have six races remaining and there are two where I have a bad feeling in my stomach. Misano and Valencia are two tracks where we have not performed so well in the past but now Scott has reached another level. It is good to have this gap and always better to go home with this big lead than not.”

For more exclusive reaction from Redding, see the September 4 issue of MCN.