Scott Redding and the Apꦦrilia RS-GP MotoGP machine will both be attempting some winter we𒊎ight loss.

While the Englishman already looks like he doesn't have an ounce to spare, at 1m 85cm he will take over from Loris Baz as the tallest rider on the MotoGP gr𝄹id next year.

And while new team-mate Aleix Espargaro is only 5cm shorter, Redding ꧋was 'shocked' to di🐭scover the Spaniard is now 13kg lighter.

Redding says Espargaro weighs 66kg, rather than the 71kg given on the official MotoGP website (where Redding is listed as 78kg💃, 1kg lower than his current weight).

That difference suggests Espargaro may have lost weight during the season, to 🌟try and improve straight-line performance.

At September's Aragon ro🍬und, the most recent dry event with a long straight that Espargaro attended, he was 13km/h down on top speed in qualifying. Team-mate Sam Lowes was slowest of all through the speed trap.

Redding certainly feels weight could prove c𒐪rucial and is determined to get withi🌄n 10kg of Espargaro by the start of 2018 testing.

"My plan is to cut some weight from now until Ch𝓡ristmas and then build on my 𓆏stamina ready for the new season," he said.

"I feel like I have a good opportunity next year and I need to put all the small things together. So I need to give - as e♛very year - as much as I can.

"There'ಌs a few things I can tweꦛak, like my weight. I can be lighter.

"I've tried to be lighter [in the past] and struggled because I needed the power. Now I don't need so much power to ride this bike and I'm gett𒀰ing more mature, understanding how to save energy.

"So I can reduce a bit of weight. It's going to be hard, but I'm g🐬oing to do it! I need to do it."

Tol൩d that he barely has any body fat, Redding replied:

"The thing is, Aleix is 66 kg and that realꦆly shocked me. But in the end i⭕t's helping him on the bike.

"If Aprilia can cut a few kilos from the bike and I can cut 4-5 kilos from my weight, then another kilo from somewhere else, w🍨e can come to a package that's 8-9 kilos lighter. For me that's just an advantage.

"🌳As I say, it's not going to be easy. Especially as it's not fat that I need to lose, but muscle in certain areas th𒆙at I don't really need anymore.

"I'm tall and I've seen other guys lose weight. I was 83kg after the flyaways and I'm already down to 79kg. So I'm working in the rig💯ht direction, I just need ✅to keep going.

"It's a bit shit sometimes✤, but I'll do it𝔍 and then see where I am after Sepang; decide what needs tweaking and then control my weight from there."

Asked if he had any dietin♛g tips꧂, Redding laughed: "Don’t f**king eat and keep pedalling!"

Apriliaℱ meanwhile will be using more advanced methods to trim 🔥weight from the RS-GP, which got heavier during the 2017 season.

"We had a lot of ideas for developing the bike and each idea represented a trade-off between an improvement in performance and, sometimes, increasing weight," explained Aprilia Raciꦕng boss Romano Albesiano.

"So, we are now with a faster bike than before, but it’s slightly ove🍒r the [minimum weight] limit.

"So for next season the target is to keep the same contents of the bike, maybe ⛎adding something, but come back again under the minimum weight limit [157kg] and be able to put some ballast."

Watch the video below to see Scott Redding dragging his elbow into pit lane!

Redding felt much happier after his second test on the RS-GP, at Jerez, than during his Valencia debut, when he hadꦛ tried Espargaro's set-up.

However Espargaro skipped Jerez to give his hand injury further chance to heal, meaning it was ❀harder for Reddin🍨g to gauge lap-time progress.

"It would have been a better reference if Alex was here, to see if we can close the gap to him," Redding said. "At the moment my target is to cꦺlose the gap to the front obviou𝓰sly but also to Aleix, while using my settings on the bike.

𓆉"At Valencia, my set-up was more or less the same as Aleix, but it just didn't suit me at all! I couldn’t feel at home on the bike there. Nowhere near.

"Whereas [at Jerez] I said, 'let's go a bit my way'. Th♏en it🐬 started to work and get better. Now I've got a good base and can ride it how I want.

"Aleix's style is quite different to mine, so we need to find something that ♏works for both of us.

"It'ꦇs just climbing the ladder 🦩and finding our way.

"We went,🐻 not the wrong way, but at one stage we put on a new tyre and I almost had a really big highside at Turn 3 because I was expecting more linear grip and it wasn't there. But with a used tyre it was.

"So you also need to understand that this❀ bike is really good with used tyres. The problem is when you put the new tyꦓre, if it's better or not.

"But this test was not really about the lap time. It's a shakedown for me to give the team information, like trying to mak𝔉e the bike a bit bigger in general. That's one thing they want to do for both riders just to be a bit more comfortable in the straights, the aerodynamics.

"The bike is small and there is not a lot of space. It's not really about handling, just rider position and having more space to do a few things. Like for me we're on the limit w🐻ith the handlebars, so moving the fairing forward a bit to suit ꧑me.

"It’s hard to say what's top of my list now becaওuse after the work wܫe’ve done I've got a lot of the understanding that I needed.

"I would like a bit more grip, to use the drive. It just seems 🥂to me that the bike doesn’t have initial grip. And if you do get grip and it breaks away, it breaks away fast.ಌ So you need to find a balance between grip and spin.

"But each day it's getting better. It's just time and the way the team work is unreal for me. We decide what 💧we're going to do and stick to the plan… It's wicked."

Redding's experience at Pramac Ducat🉐i has also taught him to focus on getting a base set-up that is tailored aꩵround his needs right from the start.

"When I went to Ducati they gave me a bike and it was an aveౠrage of a good base [set-up]. The guys going on to the Du♊cati now - Tito, Jack - are bonding straight away, like I did. But the problems come later.

"For me I prefer to find the way, bring ꧙some new parts to help me, understan🅠d what the bike needs and get stronger throughout the year."

The Sepang test takes place from January 28-30.