British MotoGP: Stefan Bradl exceeding early expectations

German Stefan Bradl says he has exceeded his own expectations with a series of impressive performances in his rookie MotoGP campaign heading to this weekend’s British round at Silverstone.

The reigning Moto2 world champion has not finished outside of the top 10 in the opening five races and scored a brilliant best of fifth in the recent rain-hit French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

Bradl’s performances on the LCR Honda have drawn widespread praise inside the paddock and he has been one of the revelations of 2012 with British rider Cal Crutchlow.

Bradl told MCN: “I think the first races have been really good for us and hopefully we can continue like this. It has been a little bit better than we expected but the next races will be very difficult because I have no reference on the MotoGP bike.”

Bradl used last week’s one-day test session at the Motorland Aragon in Spain to focus on improving his pace on worn tyres.

Throughout this season he has shown blistering speed in the first of races, only to drop his pace when the grip has deteriorated.

Building up his speed and experience on worn rubber was a focal point of the Motorland Aragon session and he added “It was tough running around a lot with old tyres which is quite hard because you don’t get to the lap time you want.

“But I need to improve my pace when the grip is less. We are not too far away from the top lap time but we can improve. The points I need to work on are my lap times on old tyres and also in qualifying. I need to improve with a completely fresh tyre.”