Bradl scores a point in tough WorldSBK debut
Red Bull Honda’s Stefan Bradl ended his maiden World Superbike outing 15th after a tricky afternoon on the new Fireblade.
The team took delivery of the brand new CBR1000RR SP2 only a couple of weeks before testing got under way in January, so time has been against them and the bike is still not at a truly competitive level yet.
With 2011 Moto2 world champion Bradl having to learn WorldSBK machinery on top of developing a new motorcycle, his debut weekend was always destined to be a tough one.
While team-mate Nicky Hayden was safely through to Superpole 2, Bradl had to contest SP1. Failing to lift himself into the top two in the session, the German could only manage a disappointing 15th.
Bradl got off the line well enough in the race and was troubling the outer reaches of the top 10 in the opening laps, discovering the bike to be working extremely well on the way into corners.
However, their issues with acceleration and rear spinning, which were prevalent throughout the pre-season, reared their head again and Bradl found himself steadily slipping down the order as the race wore on.
“My first World Superbike race has not been an easy one,” he said.
“We were strong on the brakes and that’s a positive, but if there is one point we need to work on ahead of race two in the connection between the throttle and the behaviour of the rear tyre, which was spinning a lot.
“I could feel the tyre in the opening laps, but as the laps went by the situation became a bit more problematic.”
In the final few laps, Bradl was back where he qualified and almost 10 seconds down on team-mate Hayden in 11th. The German now has his sights set on finding a cure for his woes during tomorrow morning’s warm-up session.
“We improved compared to testing but something is still clearly not right, so we have to work on it and come up with some ideas ahead of race two.”