The Honda factory found itself very destitute when injuries decimated a pair of drivers who were billed as the “dream team”. Márquez with a still fragile shoulder, Lorenzo with a fractured scaphoid and even the team manager Puig went at it with one arm in a sling. Crutchlow gritted his teeth because of a newly raised ankle. Nakagami was therefore a valuable element during the Sepang tests. But not only. There was also Stefan Bradl.
The German was particularly important for the HRC. He collected both the material during the shakedown and provided his input during the three days of official testing that followed. During this only official IRTA test, Bradl completed 167 laps and provided the engineers with all kinds of information. And he was just as fast: the former Moto2 champion only lost 1,129 seconds on the best record time of Petrucci with the Ducati. Marc Marquez was only two tenths of a second ahead of the replacement of Lorenzo.
"Having Bradl is a big help, I think he is one of the best test drivers", said Márquez for the work accomplished by the HRC test pilot. “His comments are very similar to mine, so if you try something it works the same, so I'm very happy with the work of the test team and Bradl."
To Bradl, the five days of testing in Malaysia were difficult. “My long stay in Sepang was exhausting. Testing there with a MotoGP for five days is just brutal, but it was a very successful test. After more than 250 laps a lot was done However, for me it was an extreme stress test, it was the first time I did such a long test even in Malaysia “, reports the German.
"From the beginning everything has been positive and very pleasant, every round has been of high quality. So we can say that we have been very productive in the last two weeks and I think we have created a good base for the official drivers. I am very happy with my performance, and HRC can certainly count on its test pilot “, promises Bradl.
" Unfortunately I didn't do a very fast lap, the 1'59.3 could have been around 1'58. All in all, I'm happy. It was really great, the official tests from Wednesday to Friday were a very special experience for me. Working with Marc in the official team was an absolutely great time. "
"I learned a lot because this team is of a high level, each step is precisely coordinated, and it was a great honor for me to experience that. I did a great job and contributed to HRC “, Says Bradl on motosport-total.
