Scott Redding and the Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP ma♐chine will both be attempting some winter weight 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 grid🍃 next year.

And while new team-mate Aleix Espargaro is only 5cm shorter, Redding was♉ 'shocked' to discover 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 losꦓt weight during the season, to try and improve straight-line performance.

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

Redding certainly feels weight could pr💧ove crucial and is determined to get within 10kg of Esparga🌺ro by the start of 2018 testing.

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

"I feel like I have a good opportunity next year and 𓄧I need t🧸o put all the small things together. So I need to give - as every year - as much as I can.

"T🦩here's🦹 a few things I can tweak, 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 𒀰don't need so much power to ride this bike and I'm getting more mature, understanding how to save energy.

"So I can reduce a biꦆt of ൲weight. It's going to be hard, but I'm going to do it! I need to do it."

Told that he bare🦹ly has any 🌞body fat, Redding replied:

"The thing ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚis, Aleix 💧is 66 kg and that really shocked me. But in the end it'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 kiloꦆ from somewhere else, we 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 los𝔉e, but muscle in certain areas that I don't really need anymore.

"I'm tall and I've seen other guy🅘s lose weight. I was 83kg after the flyaways and I'm already down to 79kg. So I'm working in the right direction, I just need to kee෴p going.

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

Asked if he had any dieting tips, Redding 💦laughed: "Don’t f**king eat and keep pedalling!"

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

"We had a lot of ideas for developing the bike an⭕d each idea represented a trade-off between an improvement in performance and, sometimes, increasing weight," explained Aprilia Racing boss Roma🍰no Albesiano.

"So, we are n♛ow with a faster bike than before, but it’s slightly over the [minimum weight] limit.

"So for next season the target is to keep the same contents of the bike, mayb✨e 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 had tried 🍌Espargaro's set-up.

However Espargaro skipped Jerez to give his hand injury further chance to heal, meaning it was harder for Reddin𓂃g to gauge lap-time prog🍎ress.

"It would have b🐠een 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 close the gap to the𒉰 front obviously but also to Aleix, while using my settings on the bike.

"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'. Then 🍷it started to work and get better. Now I've got a good base and can ride iꦓt how I want.

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

"It's just climbing the la🍬dder 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 mor𝄹e 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 tyre, if it's better or 𒀰not.

"But this test was not really about the lap time. It's a shakedown for me to give th♌e team information, like trying to make 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 with the handlebars, so moving the f🍬airing forward a bit to suit me.

𝓰"It’s har📖d to say what's top of my list now because after the work we’ve done I've got a lot of the understanding that I needed.

"I would like a bit more gri👍p, 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. 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 Du▨cati has also taught him to focus on getting a base set-up that is tailored around his needs right from the start.

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

"For me I prefer to find the way, bring some🤡 new parts to help me, 🃏understand what the bike needs and get stronger throughout the year."

The Sepang test takes place from January 28-30.