GOOD START IN BARCELONA
Stefan Bradl was amongst the fastest open riders during Friday’s first free practice session at the fast and flowing Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It was a promising start into round seven of this year’s MotoGP series. However, Bradl and his Athinà Forward Racing crew went out on track again to try new solutions on the front end of the team’s Yamaha Forward machine that might improve the race pace overall. After showing a fast and consistent speed during FP1, Bradl couldn’t find the right feeling in corner entry in the afternoon so he wasn’t able to make further progress in terms of improving his lap times.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Athinà Forward Racing, Yamaha Forward), FP1: 16. – 1´43.536 (18/19) / FP2: 23. – 1´43.851 (13/17):
“In general it was an ok day for us. The first practice this morning was good, we tried to make some improvements on the bike but unfortunately I can’t flick the bike in corner entry as fast as I would like. So I think we’re losing time in this area. However, the gap is close to the front open riders so we remain positive for Saturday and of course we’ll keep working hard.”
Combined Free Practice Times FP1/FP2:
1 Aleix ESPARGARO / SPA / Team SUZUKI ECSTAR / Suzuki / 1´41.158 (FP2)
2 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 1´41.443 +0.285 (FP2)
3 Dani PEDROSA / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 1´41.789 +0.631 (FP2)
22 Stefan BRADL / GER / Athinà Forward Racing / Yamaha Forward / 1´43.536 + 2.378 (FP1)