Le Mans, 19 May: in a demanding 28-lap race affected by some light rain in the first part, the LCR Honda racer Stefan Bradl managed to finish the Grand Prix de France in 10th position although he slid out of the treacherous track at 11 laps to go when he was steadily holding the 6th position. His fifth place on the grid was a reward for all the hard work he has done with the Team to solve a front-end issue and without his slide, the German would have had a good chance to repeat his result from last year when he finished 5th.

Stefan: “My start was pretty good and I think that our pace was not so bad because we were able to race with the top group. Then during the race I could not see properly and had to open the visor many times. So for me it was a bit tough to do the perfect line and I crashed because I touched the white line. After that I was lucky because I was able to push the engine back to riding with acceptable lap times. We are actually back on our speed but we have had some bad luck. In any case we are fast in the dry and in the wet so I am looking forward to Mugello which is one of my favourite race tracks”.