Stefan Bradl ends pre-season with two crashes

Stefan Bradl’s winter testing campaign certainly didn’t end on a high after he suffered two crashes on the final night of testing at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

The LCR Honda rider had already walked away unhurt from a spill at Turn 6 when he fell again while on the seventh lap of a planned full race simulation.

The 2011 Moto2 world champion lost the front-end of his RC213V in both crashes and the only positive of a tough final night was he escaped injury so close to the first race back in Qatar on March 23.

Bradl finished the test with the fourth fastest time and after setting a best lap of 1.55.187 he told MCN: “I crashed twice and it is not the best way to go into the season. I lost the front in Turn 6 and then in the race simulation I lost the front in Turn 10 on the seventh lap. Bradley (Smith) crashed there and there was some dirt on the track and I was slightly off line. It was a small mistake with a big outcome because I couldn’t complete the simulation. My pace was not so bad in the race simulation. I felt a drop with the front tyre, which is not normal. I think the humidity was a bit higher and we saw a lot more crashes than the previous two days. That means something was a bit strange for the weather. The good point is that in two crashes I wasn’t injured but here it looks like Yamaha is a little faster than Honda, or they can adapt to the conditions a little bit better.”