#AusWorldSBK Race II: JUST A SINGLE POINT AGAIN FOR A HARD JOB

In the second Australian race, too, Stefan Bradl couldn’t reach more than a disappointing 15th place on Sunday afternoon. The 27-year-old German rider wasn’t also able to shine likewise the wonderful summer weather this weekend at Phillip Island. Fundamental problems with the engine of his race bike prevent him massively to show his full potential. Therefore, the second race went as disappointing as the championship’s opener on the previous day. Round two of the FIM Superbike World Championship will take place in Thailand in two weeks. Bradl will spend the break in his Bavarian home. #6 Stefan BRADL (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP2), 15th, WM-Position 18 (2 points): “My start was quite good today, but in the first corner I was a bit pinched. So, I lost all the positions that I had won at the start. In the end, however, it was a similar race as yesterday. I’m very disappointed because we’re simply not able to find any ways to improve the bike. We’re deeply in the clamp although, we could achieve a few improvements with the front with which I felt a lot better. However, any changes we’re doing in terms to the throttle response and loads to the rear tyre, it seems to go up in smoke. “We’re simply not able to manage to put the engine power to the tarmac because the power delivery is much too aggressive. We do our best to try and solve the problem by throttling the electronics but the engine’s characteristic is too aggressive innately. It’s frustrating because it’s clearly to see that we can keep up with the top guys in terms of the riding’s potential easily. Today I was able to maintain my position in that group for a long time. But with a look on the tyres after the race, it becomes creepy: apart from blistering, smaller parts were missing on the tread which happened due to the violent power delivery so, during the later stages of the race the resources were lacking in order to stay and fight till the line. “In accelerating, we’re easy prey for our opponents. In corner exit, they whoosh from the left and right. In any case, I didn’t give up till the end but to give more wasn’t possible because it makes no sense to risk a crash as we need every single kilometre to collect valuable data. We have to use the break until the next race intensively in order to make our homework accurately.” WorldSBK Phillip Island – Result Race 2 (22 Laps): 1 Jonathan REA /GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R/ 33´52.785 2 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / +0.025 3 Marco MELANDRI / ITA / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / +0.249 15 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / Honda CBR1000RR SP2 / +28.440 WorldSBK Standings: 1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / 50 2 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / 40 3 Tom SYKES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / 26 18 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / 2

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#AusWorldSBK Race I: HARD FOUGHT POINT IN VERY FIRST 2017 RACE

In his debut race after the move to the Superbike world series, Stefan Bradl couldn’t get beyond a 15th position despite a courageous ride at Phillip Island. After a difficult test, earlier this week at the Phillip Island circuit, Friday’s free practice sessions brought some lights at the end of the tunnel. Nevertheless, the 27-year-old German rider remained realistic with his expectations for the Superpole, these sessions decide about the starting grid, and Saturday afternoon’s opening race for the championship. Bradl qualified for the very first points haul this year in P15 on the grid. During the race in good conditions too, however, he soon became powerless and he couldn’t do more than to finish the race in 15th position after 22 gruelling laps. Heat two at the opening round is scheduled for Sunday afternoon with starting time at 3:00pm local time (5:00am CET). #6 Stefan BRADL (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP2), 15., WM-Position 15 (1 Punkt): “We definitely can’t be satisfied with the outcome of the first race. It was foreseeable that it won’t be an easy task but I’m just doing a test rider’s job here. By the way, this also applies to my team mate Nicky (Hayden). We still have even more weak points with our bikes than we like. Apart from breaking zones, there are not many other advantages now so today’s result didn’t come unexpected. In a strong competition like we see in this series, you can’t expect happy coincidences to recover positions. So, we must consider Phillip Island as a test race, because tomorrow our situation will not be different. “The biggest problem is that we don’t have any grip as soon the tyre starts to drop. Beyond that, the electronic works uncontrolled. It often come to situations which are not understandable for me. The connection between traction control and throttle connection doesn’t work at all and in my opinion, it is completely redundant. In this way, you can’t race sensibly. Nicky has the same comments: the bike is strong in breaking, but that’s it already. “Today’s performance was a real sharp slap for us. Whilst the top riders are going faster with each day, we turn in a circle and do not make any progress. For me, as a newcomer to this category, at least I know now how the tyres are working during a race distance. On the other hand, Nicky, who already has more experience as a Superbike rider, is just as a sitting duck as I’m. This fact underlines the current situation of our project. Of course, we’re still in a very early phase with, but something must change very quickly because otherwise we will face a big problem soon.” WorldSBK Phillip Island – Starting Positions after Superpole: 1 Jonathan REA /GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R/ 1´29.573 2 Tom SYKES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / 1´29.605 +0.032 3 Marco MELANDRI / ITA / Aruaba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / 1´29.734 +0.161 15 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / Honda CBR1000RR SP2 / 1´31.850 +2.277 WorldSBK Phillip Island – Results Race 1 (22 Laps): 1 Jonathan REA /GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R/ 33´52.290 2 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / +0.042 3 Tom SYKES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / +1.050 15 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / Honda CBR1000RR SP2 / +28.936 WorldSBK Championship Standings: 1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / 25 2 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / 20 3 Tom SYKES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / 16 15 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / 1

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#AusWorldSBK Phillip Island: DAY ONE BRINGS MIXED EMOTIONS

It was a very different start into the weekend for Stefan Bradl, which saw up and downs during the first official practice sessions at the opening round for this year’s Superbike World Championship. Round one of the new season got underway in good conditions though the Australian summer took a short timeout at the marvelous Phillip Island in the very southern hemisphere. Bradl and his technician in Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team made significantly progress to the all-new Fireblade SP2 during Friday morning’s FP1 to finish the session one second faster than during the previous test earlier this week at the fast and flowing Australian track. However, during the break up to the second session in afternoon, the team continued eagerly to tackle the highly delicate electronics setup which turned out to be a step backwards. Bradl found himself suddenly struggling with the same issues as a few days before when his bike was hardly to ride under control. So, for this reason, the team will return to previous setup for Saturday, a day Bradl is looking forward particularly because as part of the Superbike world series two races held during each event. On Saturday afternoon, there will be the first World Championship points to conquer. #6 Stefan BRADL (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP2), FP1: P16 – 1´31.707 / FP2: P16 – 1´32.022: “Our start into the first race weekend was quite enjoyable. During FP1 in the morning, we were able to improve significantly compared to the test but this step was also urgently necessary. Unfortunately, in the afternoon we got somewhat of a bit out of the way in terms of the electronics because we thought that we would make further progress in this way. But it appears, however, that the setup works just in a very narrow area. Most probably we were a bit over-motivated and wanted to reach too much so during the second session, the performance of the engine was much more aggressive and it was extremely difficult to use a new tyre perfectly. During the entire session, I had to fight again with fierce and bumpy rear-wheels slides, which of course were costly to the lap times. “I think, that we are not able to make improvements because we still miss a lot of testing kilometres. This is not only the case on my side in the garage, but also for my team mate Nicky (Hayden). In the afternoon, he even failed to match his best lap time from FP1 by 0.6 seconds. We still endure too many problems in many areas with our bike to find the necessary confidence. Therefore, it’s hard to make the next step. From this point of view, a lot of patience is required until we understand the whole package better and we are more able to ride faster, and also that the whole is coming more relaxed. For tomorrow’s race in the afternoon, however, we should be in a not so bad shape because our pace is significantly better than just one fast lap. I hope, therefore, that I’m able to recover some positions. In general, however, I’m very excited about the first race of the new season and hope that we can learn a lot during the race.” WorldSBK – Free Practices Combined Results FP1/FP2: 1 #7 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / 1´30.189 (FP1) 2 #1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / 1´30.255 +0.066 (FP1) 3 #12 Xavier FORES / SPA / BARNI Racing Team / Ducati Panigale R / 1´30.486 +0.297 (FP1) 16 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / 1´31.707 +1.518 (FP1)

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Phillip Island Preview – THE 2017 SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GETS UNDERWAY

Stefan Bradl heads with full throttle into his new challenge this weekend in Australia. The 27-year-old German rider, who has made the move from MotoGP™ to FIM Superbike World Championship with the conclusion of last season, looks forward eagerly to this year’s first race weekend. The whole environment is still new for him but Bradl, who crowned him Moto2™ World Champion back in 2011, is confident to get familiarized quickly. The series calendar includes 13 events with two races per weekend on Saturday and Sunday. The fast and flowing Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in the middle of this picturesque landscape in the south of Australia hosts the opening round this weekend. The race bikes are based on production Superbikes. Big news ahead of the championship’s start came from Austrian channel ServusTV who will broadcast all races live this year. #6 Stefan BRADL (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP2): “So far, everything is new for me in this paddock. However, I’m sure that I’ll find the way around in this championship quickly. But for now, I’m still facing a start of a completely new chapter. This applies not only the bike, the manufacturer and the team but also the weekend’s schedule with two races per event. Pre-season testing’s didn’t went easy for us, though it was foreseeable as we started with our bike from scratch. The Honda Fireblade is all-new and in such a short period it isn’t possible to jump up to the top in the twinkling of an eye, not at all in such a highly competitive championship like this. Nevertheless, the cooperation with my team mate Nicky (Hayden) is brilliant from the very first beginning. His comments on the bike and about our current issues are like mine. Together, we are not only pushing each other, but also the technicians and engineers to make quickly progress. But apart from all this, I’m really looking forward to the upcoming race weekend and the start of my new challenge. Phillip Island is a great track and for the first time I’m able to enjoy the Australian summer because in the past, when we were here in October at the Grand Prix, the weather usually was very unfriendly. So, for this, everything is on its place for a great weekend. But it won’t be easy at all. I’ve been following the Superbike series for a long time but this year the competition seems to be much stronger. You see all well-known manufacturers with strong riders aboard their bikes on the grid.” Stefan BRADL’s Profil: Alter: 27 (geboren am 29. November 1989) Beruf: Rennfahrer Größe: 172 cm Gewicht: 63 kg Motorrad: Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 Startnummer: 6 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit – Track facts: Länge: 4.445 Meter Kurven: 12 (7 Links / 5 Rechts) Pole-Position: Links Website: www.phillipislandcircuit.com.au Time Schedule (CET): Freitag, 24. Februar: 23:45 – 00:045 FP1 Freitag, 24. Februar: 04:30 – 05:30 FP2 Samstag, 25. Februar: 00:20 – 00:45 FP3 Samstag, 25. Februar: 02:30 – 02:45 SP1 Samstag, 25. Februar: 02:55 – 03:10 SP2 Samstag, 25. Februar: 05:00 Rennen 1 (22 Runden – 97,970 km) Sonntag, 26. Februar: 01:00 – 01:15 Warm Up Sonntag, 26. Februar: 05:00 Rennen (22 Runden – 97,970 km)

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