GP Americas: A FURTHER TOP-10 AND MORE POINTS IN TEXAS
Stefan Bradl enjoyed this weekend’s round three at the Grand Prix of The Americas, which he wrapped up with a strong 10th position.
Bradl’s performance and that one of his factory Aprilia RS-GP is still growing. The 26-year-old MotoGP rider was able to build on his superb race finish last Sunday in Argentina. In addition to that, he clearly gained an edge to his teammate Alvaro Bautista during every single session this weekend.
In dry and good conditions, Bradl made the only mistake this time at the start which was a more or less a disaster. However, once he got his rhythm, Bradl performed clever and rode a solid race to finish in 10th position.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, Aprilia) – 10th (World Championship position 14th, 15 points):
“I’m very pleased and of course I’m happy about my second top 10 result within one week. The race itself was good as well we performed really strong throughout the weekend. However, my start was a disaster. Like Argentina last week, I had this problem with the clutch again. But in comparison to last time I was able to do some practice starts and we also made some changes to this area although I still miss the feeling when I release the clutch. After my bad start I remained calm because I thought to myself it will be a pretty long race. I managed it well and it didn’t take a long time to get my pace. Later, I stuck in with the Ducati’s of Barbera and Pirro. It was clearly to see that I had a disadvantage to them on the straights. I would have been too risky to catch up these three, four tenth in the corners, which we lose on the straights. Beyond that, my front tyre started to drop down at this time, particularly the right side. From this point of view, I tried to bring the points home in a safe way. Overall, it was a good weekend for us. We were able to make steadily progress in respect to the electronics, which means we did a big step in acceleration. Honestly speaking, I enjoyed this weekend a lot because our packages was competitive, despite of our top speed which is still our weak point. However, our package is already good. The bike is easy to handle through the corners and as said, we are making progress with the electronics. We have learned a lot the last days, which was very important for us. In general, I’m quite confident for the future. Above that all, my crew did a great job again and we now go back to Europe packed by two strong results.”
MotoGP™ Grand Prix of The Americas:
1 #93 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 43´57.945
2 #99 Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / +6.107
3 #29 Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Ducati Team / Ducati / +10.947
10 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / Aprilia / +40.211
MotoGP™ World Standings:
1 #93 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 66
2 #99 Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 45
3 #46 Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 33
14 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / Aprilia 15
Next race: 24 April, Circuito de Jerez / Jerez de la Frontera, Spain