GP Österreich: “I KNOW THE RED BULL RING PRETTY WELL”
The 26-year-old factory rider in Aprilia had to skip the two days of testing at the Red Bull Ring three weeks ago, but Bradl got to know the track already before.
Round tenth of the season this weekend in the green Styria marks the beginning of the second half of the season. In addition, the Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich is celebrating its comeback into the world championship. In 1997 the circus went to the former A1 Ring with 4.3 kilometres of length for the first time. With the takeover of Red Bull many things changed, except the layout.
While many teams and riders did a two-day test immediately after the race at the Sachsenring to prepare for the race weekend, Stefan Bradl had to skip this occasion due to an injury. But the Aprilia rider doesn’t worry about that and is already looking forward to his second home race of the season.
The return of the Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich promises to be a special spectacle as more than 200.000 (!) tickets were sold already before the start of the weekend. Starting time for the tenth point haul is as usual 2.00pm on Sunday with a distance over 28 laps.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, Aprilia) – World Championship position 15th (37 points):
“Whilst my dad already won a Grand Prix at the Salzburgring, I’m going to have a race in Austria for the first time this weekend. I’m looking forward to the race at the Red Bull Ring and I’m pretty sure I’m going to feel very comfortable in Styria. Because of the short distance to Germany, many fans are going to attend this Grand Prix. The race weekend started out with a nice event in Graz. It was pretty cool to ride the MotoGP Aprilia through downtown and I have to admit it was really nice to see so many people came out, despite of the bad weather. Though I was not here testing after the Sachsenring GP, I know the track in Spielberg pretty well. We know the on the paper the track’s characteristics don’t fit our bike very well, but I think we can have a good weekend anyway. In any case it will be important for the second half of the season we keep it going like before. We need to give even more in every single race. In the meantime, I’m fully fit again. The crash at the Sachsenring is already forgotten. I’m more than ready for the tasks that care coming.”