Sepang, 23 February: The first day at Sepang is over for the Forward Racing team and its riders involved in the second official test of the season.
Stefan Bradl and Loris Baz completed respectively 42 and 37 laps each, before torrential downpour interrupted the session in the early afternoon.
The German recorded a best lap of 2.02.410 and ended in 18th position in the time sheet.
“I can’t say that I am really satisfied with the work done today. The track conditions were very different from last test and I struggled particularly at the start of the day. In the afternoon the feeling was better, I was able to push even on worn tires, but then it started to rain and I could not improve my lap time. I am optimistic for tomorrow, I would like to make the most of the day and improve my performance”.
The development work in view of the upcoming Qatar GP will continue tomorrow at the Malaysian circuit.
Sepang, 10 February: The first test of the season ends up well for the Forward Racing team and its riders on the Sepang track in Malaysia.
After the Valencia and Jerez tests last year, Stefan Bradl and Loris Baz, both in the first year with the Swiss team, have continued their work improving the Forward Yamaha bike for the upcoming season. During the three days test, both riders completed over 120 laps each constantly improving their times. Bradl, with a personal best of 2.00.294, is staying on top of the standings of the Open category and he has been consistently in the Top10.
The feelings are overall very positive and the development work will continue in the next test scheduled on the Malaysian track in a little less than two weeks.
“We can be really pleased of the work done here in Sepang. Every day I improved my lap time and I ended up in the Top10, very close of the fastest guys. This is a great result considering the few laps I had under the belt with the Forward Yamaha bike. I adapted well to the bike and I acquired the right confidence to start pushing a bit more. The overall feeling is positive and in the second scheduled test I will continue to work on the setting and electronics to decrease my lap time. The potential of the Forward Yamaha bike is really good, I can’t wait to get back on track for the second round of test.”
Sepang, 6 February: The second day out of three of testing in Sepang for the Forward Racing team ends with Stefan Bradl on top of the standings of the Open class. The German completed 49 laps improving his time by less than a tenth. Bradl finished the day in 11th place and the first of the Open bikes.
“Today I worked on the lap time. Yesterday we were fast but I needed to find the right consistency and to get closer to the limit. The feeling is positive, I managed to push hard and I was able to set some fast laps even with the old tyres. I’m glad we worked well on the electronics and I tried some new setting for the chassis. Tomorrow we will try to make the most of the day”.
Sepang, 5 February: The first day of testing has ended positively for Team Forward Racing as Stefan Bradl sits on top of the standings for Open bikes. The German rider has continued his work to adapt to the Forward Yamaha bike completing 58 laps with a best time of 2.01.556, which earned him the eighth place overall, just a second short of leader Marquez.
“It has been a very positive first day. The lap time is good and finding yourself at the end of the session in the top 10 is definitely a good start. The feeling is also pretty good although I have yet to learn to take the right confidence with the Magneti Marelli software. I have in front of me two more days of work and I’m sure I can find a good setting to be immediately fast in the first race”.
Valencia, 9 November: the 2014 season came to an end at Ricardo Tormo circuit today with more than 100.000 fans celebrating the ultimate MotoGP exciting show. Today’s Moto3 race crowned Alex Marquez as World Champion in the lower class whilst the 35-year-old Valentino Rossi got the runner-up award behind Marc Marquez. LCR racer Stefan Bradl rode his Honda RC213V to the 8th place finishing his third season in the premier class with the 9th position overall.
Stefan: “Sure I was expecting a bit more from this race because our pace was faster than what we finally achieved. But this race was really strange because it started to rain the first laps and I was not strong enough to make the pace. Honestly I did not want to crash to ruin my last race with LCR and Honda. This is an acceptable position considering that I am not a fan of this race track. I was expecting something more from this season but with these ups and downs it was not easy. I really enjoyed these 3 years with LCR and my greatest thanks go to Lucio because he believed in me and, together with the Team and the Team sponsors, they have done the maximum to support me”.
Lucio Cecchinello: “Three wonderful years for us with Stefan: full of emotions. Together we have been through good and bad moments but we won’t forget Stefan because this cooperation was simply great. We have done our maximum and we are sure that he did the same so we want to thank him and wish him the best for his career”. See more at: http://lcr.mc/eng/news/2014/bradl-ends-in-8th-his-last-race-with-lcr-honda-motogp-team_ID_3_IDa_13132.htm#sthash.TZTuSStk.dpuf
Valencia, 8 November: tomorrow’s 30-lap race at Valencia will see Valentino Rossi starting from the pole position since last time in Le Mans in 2010 followed by Iannone and Pedrosa. LCR racer Stefan Bradl will line up on the fourth row with the 10th lap time (1’31.443). The German had some trouble with the set-up in yesterday’s first outing and had to compete today for both QP1 and QP2.
Stefan: “Actually I am totally unhappy because our second rear tyre in QP2 had some chattering so, although I was pushing very hard, I could not improve my lap time. I knew that the guys would have pushed to improve in the last minutes and I wanted to do the same thing but at the end we reached P10. It’s not the perfect position for the race tomorrow but I think positive because the guys have similar pace and I have a good pace too. I believe we can easily fight for the top 6 places”.
See more at: http://lcr.mc/eng/news/2014/bradl-starting-from-the-10th-spot-for-the-ultimate-round-of-2014_ID_3_IDa_13131.htm#sthash.JgONRg00.dpuf
Valencia, 7 November: following an intense three-week schedule oversea, the MotoGP field took the Ricardo Tormo race track today for the first day of action with reigning World Champion Marc Marquez on the top of the time sheets. Stefan Bradl, who is approaching his last round aboard the LCR RCV, ended up with a positive 7th lap time (1’31.935), but it was a complicated first opening day for the German struggling to drive his Honda machine in the Spanish race track curves.
Stefan: “Actually we are struggling to find a good setting. At the moment we have some issues, especially in this morning first session, when we had serious problems in corner entries at a very high speed. We found few things to improve this afternoon but we are still trying to fix the problem. Now we are P7, which is good but the gap is very tight so we must be ready for tomorrow to jump in Q2 directly. If we can adjust the bike I am sure we can go faster but it will be hard work for the guys because we are not completely sure where the issues comes from”.
See more at: http://lcr.mc/de/news/2014/bradl-starts-the-last-round-of-the-2014-season-with-the-7th-fastest-lap-time_ID_3_IDa_13130.htm#sthash.O9RlDrGv.dpuf
Sepang, 26 October: a huge crowd of more than 80.000 fans enjoy the penultimate round of the season at stifling Sepang circuit with LCR racer Stefan Bradl gaining a superb 4th place behind Marquez, Rossi and Lorenzo. Starting from the 4th spot on the grid, Bradl cleverly managed a tough and close 20-lap race showing his standard comeptitive pace after a difficult period. This is the German’s 4th place from the beginning of the season and he is now heading to Valencia for the ultimate positive round aboard his LCR Honda machine.
Stefan: “I am really happy to end such a tough race in 4th position: it was incredibly hot out there. Actually we have done a good job throughout the whole weekend. After the first hard braking in the race I could feel that my front was not good enough to attack and I thought I had to manage this for 20 laps. I was trying to catch Dovi but for some reasons he was a little bit faster. I could then see he was struggling with his bike so I had my chance to pass him and I was able to manage the gap to the guys behind me. We did a good job this week end with no mistake being consistent and fast in the top five for three days. After a very tough period we are back in the top five and I want to thank my Team for the excellent job”.
Sepang, 25 October: 35° air temperature and 60° on the asphalt made the Sepang GP qualifying session extremely demanding for the MotoGP field today but LCR racer Stefan Bradl was capable to ride his RCV machine on the 4th spot on the grid (2’00.472) behind Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Marquez. Today’s 4th fastest lap time is a more than reserved result for the German who missed the Malaysian GP last year after the right ankle fracture.
Stefan: “We can be happy with this good qualifying. We had the chance to follow Marquez in the last run using a different strategy this time and it ended up in a strong result for us. I am really happy to be 4th on the grid especially after the last qualifying sessions where we were not able to qualify better than the third row. If we can have a good start tomorrow we will have the potential to follow the guys in front. We wait and see what the weather is going to be. Today it was extremely hot like 60° on the asphalt with the tyres almost cooking and it was very physically demanding for everybody. Sure it will be a close and tough race but we are in good form here in Sepang”.
Sepang, 24 October: LCR Honda racer Stefan Bradl had a good start to the weekend at Sepang circuit setting the 5th quickest lap time (2’01.716 – only 0.3s off the leader Pedrosa) at the end of day one. This morning’s first free session saw the German strongly riding his RCV on dry surface while the second afternoon session was delayed due to a typical tropical storm. But even on the wet Bradl found his pace enforcing his belief ahead tomorrow’s qualifying.
Stefan: “This morning, in the dry, we started with a good set-up and a good pace finishing 5th in the first session. Both bikes worked pretty good and tomorrow we will decide which direction we go because we have some strong points on bike one and some others on bike two. So we need to put the things together to obtain the best overall package. I think it’s gonna be a tough session tomorrow morning – like a pre-qualifying session- but I am not worried about it because we are in good shape so far. Even in the wet, in the afternoon after the storm, we lapped fast despite the tricky conditions of the surface”.
Sepang, 23 February: The first day at Sepang is over for the Forward Racing team and its riders involved in the second official test of the season.
