THE British Grand Prix has always been a happy hunting ground for Scott Redding and his home race started strongly with top ten pace on the opening day of practice.

Redding has won the British Grand Prix in both the 125cc and Moto2 classes, was within one second of Jorge Lorenzo at the close of the day.

Redding completed 33 laps of the Silverstone circuit and set his fastest time early in FP2 and thereafter focussed his efforts on finding a better balance on the bike.

Despite his strong start Redding has some issues with the bumpy Silverstone track surface, leaving him looking for improvements from the bike to offer more rear grip in these sections.

Redding said: "I said before the weekend that I'd wait and see how the bike felt here at Silverstone, but it felt pretty good this morning. It wasn't great initially but it got better and I got into a good rhythm. It feels quite different here compared to the Open bike from last year and it's surprising how much faster it is.

"We're struggling a little over the bumps because the tyre absorbs the bump but it doesn't grip. We need to work in that area for tomorrow. The wind was playing a big role at the end of the day, it's a crosswind coming out of Turn 15 and when the bike is trying to pull a bit of a wheelie the wind gets underneath, so it's important to keep the front on the ground."