GP d’Italia: MORE POINTS THE REWARD FOR ALL THE HARD WORK
It wasn’t an easy task for Stefan Bradl at his team’s home grand prix but in the end he was able to take two hard fought points for the championship.
Fantastic weather and sold out grandstands along the 5.2 kilometres Mugello circuit in the Tuscany’s green treed landscape offered a spectacular scene for Sunday’s round six in Italy. However, 26-year-old Bradl wasn’t able to enjoy it fully. After a poor start into the weekend, Bradl and his crew in Aprilia Racing Team Gresini struggled to catch lost ground during Friday’s sessions. At least a change to the bike’s setting worked out for the race so the Aprilia RS-GP prototype’s handling was more equal to his riding style. Thanks to a solid performance during the race, Bradl came home in 14th place to collect two more points to his tally and he hopes now that he and his package is more competitive next time in Barcelona.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, Aprilia) – 14th (World Championship position 13th, 25 points):
“Overall, Mugello was a tough piece of work because we made a poor start into the weekend. We endured a lot of problems and above all, we struggled to find the right path in respect to the changed settings. We hardly could find solutions for this. Finally, we made a modification to the setup in the break after warm up which worked out positively as the bike’s handling was more agile due to this action. I was able to ride more comfortable during the corners. In any case, this was an important step too, to take the right path for the future. However, due to my bad practice sessions I had a simple strategy for the race which saw to start well and to ride clever during the first third of the race. I managed this part well, because I quickly realized that my pace wasn’t fast enough riding alone. In addition, I have to admit that my performance till the final stages of the race was good, I’m pleased with. However, I think it happened with eight laps to go, I lost my tank pad on the left side which is a great help in breaking that you want slide forward. So I can prop up with my legs in order to last more weight on the rear. But for some reasons it got loose till I lost it completely which affected my lap times significantly. This was a pity but honestly speaking, we weren’t as competitive this weekend because we were limited bike wise so we weren’t able do to better this time. Anyway, two points are a little reward for all this hard work and we’ll continue in the same way of course, so that we manage to improve the bike’s setup in Barcelona. Particularly, I think it’s also time to make bigger step in respect to changes to the setting. There have been more significant step done long ago. Apart from all these aspects, the new engine felt good even if our top speed wasn’t convincing.”
MotoGP™ Grand Premio d’Italia – Race Classification after 23 Laps:
1 #99 Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamah / 41´36.535
2 #93 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / +0.019
3 #29 Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Ducati Team / Ducati / +4.742
14 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / Aprilia / +40.094
MotoGP™ World Standings:
1 #99 Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 115
2 #93 Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team / Honda / 105
3 #46 Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / 78
13 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Aprilia Racing Team Gresini / Aprilia / 25
Next race: 5 June, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona / Spain