Stefan Bradl (born 29 November 1989) is a German professional motorcycle racer, best known for winning the Moto2 World Championship in 2011. He then moved to MotoGP in 2012 with LCR Honda. While in MotoGP, Bradl is best known for his performance at Laguna Seca getting the pole position and finishing second in the race behind Marc Marquez, ahead of Valentino Rossi. Bradl finished the 2013 season 7th, despite missing two races due to injury. This proved to be his highest ever MotoGP finish.

Bradl is the son of former racer Helmut Bradl. He is contracted as a test rider for Honda Racing Corporation in MotoGP and makes occasional wild card appearances and acts as an injury replacement.

Career

125cc World Championship (2005–2009)

Born in Augsburg, West Germany, Bradl started his 125cc World Championship career in 2005 as a wild card for three races, competing in the 125cc German Championship with KTM. He took more wild card races in 2006, still with KTM. He had a terrible fracture when he was hit by another rider during practice for the 2006 Malaysian GP. Later that year he was competing again at the Red Bull KTM Junior.

Bradl was offered by Alberto Puig to ride his Repsol Honda factory 250cc team for 2007; he withdrew after a couple of tests, but did not stop racing. Later, he joined the 125cc Spanish Championship with Blusens Aprilia, winning the title just five points ahead of his teammate Scott Redding. Later he took a couple of wild card World Championship races, with the same team. Additionally, from the 2007 Portuguese GP onwards Blusens Aprilia Team principal Raúl Romero placed him on a second bike with veteran Pablo Nieto, replacing Dutchman Hugo van den Berg.

For 2008, rather than stay with Blusens Aprilia, he decided to ride for the German Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing, on an official factory Aprilia RSA 125. He took his first win at Brno, fittingly a track his father won at in 1991.

Moto2 World Championship (2010–2011)

After moving up to the Moto2 class of Grand Prix racing in 2010, he went on to claim ninth in the championship, with one victory at Estoril.

2011 saw Bradl win four of the first six races, and maintained a healthy lead in the championship until Marc Márquez found significant speed halfway through the season. The championship seemed to be going down to the wire, with both Bradl and Márquez having a fair shot at the title with two rounds remaining. Márquez, however, suffered a heavy fall during free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, and was unable to race for the remainder of the season, due to eyesight problems. Bradl was therefore crowned the World Champion at the final race of the season in Valencia, Spain.

MotoGP World Championship (2012–2016)

LCR Honda (2012–2014)

Bradl was signed by the LCR Honda team for 2012. He had a good season, running consistently in the top-10, with a best result of fourth place obtained at the Italian Grand Prix.^[2] He completed the season in eighth place, winning the Rookie of the Year award.^[3]

Bradl battled consistently among the second group of riders in 2013, along with Valentino Rossi, Cal Crutchlow and Álvaro Bautista. The highlight of his season was a pole-position at the United States Grand Prix, at Laguna Seca,^[4] where he also finished second, achieving his first MotoGP podium. A crash towards the end of the season at the Malaysian Grand Prix – in which he broke an ankle^[5] – took him out of contention in the battle for fifth place with Bautista and Crutchlow. He closed the season in seventh place with 156 points.

In 2014, Bradl continued to ride for LCR Honda. However, on 2 August 2014, it was announced that Cal Crutchlow would join LCR Honda for the 2015 season and ride the factory-specification Honda RC213V.^[6] Bradl subsequently announced a move to the Forward Racing team for 2015, riding an open-specification bike.^[7]

Athinà Forward Racing (2015)

For the 2015 season, Bradl moved to Forward Racing, riding a Yamaha Forward – where he was joined by Loris Baz, moving into the series from the Superbike World Championship. At the midway point of the season, Bradl had collected 9 points, despite missing his home race at the Sanchsenring due to injury.^[8] After the summer break, Bradl parted company with the team, following the arrest of team boss Giovanni Cuzari.

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini (2015–2016)

In August, Bradl joined Aprilia Gresini Racing for the remainder of the 2015 season.^[9] His partnership with Gresini started with a 20th at Indianapolis, and scored his first points for the team, with 14th at Brno.

For the 2016 season, Bradl was partnered by Spanish rider Álvaro Bautista. He collected 63 points, with no poles, fastest laps and podiums. He finished the season ranked 16th overall.

Superbike World Championship (2017)

For the 2017 season, Bradl moved from MotoGP to the Superbike World Championship, riding a Honda of the RedBull Honda Team. He only raced 6 full rounds and 4 half-rounds; taking up 67 points and ranked 14th in the list.

Return to MotoGP (2018–present)

EG 0,0 Marc VDS, HRC Honda Team & LCR Honda (2018)

In 2018, Bradl returned to MotoGP as a replacement rider for an injured Franco Morbidelli at EG 0,0 Marc VDS Racing in his home race at the Sachsenring. He made two wildcard entries for HRC Honda Team at the Czech Republic and San Marino rounds. Bradl replaced the injured Cal Crutchlow at LCR Honda for the final two rounds, finishing 13th in Malaysia and 9th in Valencia. He collected 10 points total on the season, and was ranked 24th overall.

Repsol Honda Team (2019–present)

In 2019, he was contracted as a test rider for the Honda works MotoGP team. He raced in the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez as a wildcard entry and in the German, Czech Republic and Austrian Grand Prix as a replacement for the injured Jorge Lorenzo. Bradl finished 10th at Jerez as a wildcard rider. In his second outing as replacement for Jorge Lorenzo he finished 10th in Germany, 15th at Brno and 13th in Austria.

In 2020, Bradl was called up as a replacement rider for Marc Márquez from the Czech Republic round onwards, while Márquez was recovering from injuries sustained in an August crash at the Spanish Grand Prix.^[10]

In 2021, Bradl was a replacement rider for injured Marquez in the early season.^[11] He finished in positions 11 and 14 with two consecutive weekend races at Losail, Doha. Bradl also had a wild card ride in 2021 at Jerez, finishing in position 12.^[12]^[13]

For 2022, in the third race of the season at Argentina on 3 April, Bradl finished in position 19 when deputising for Marc Márquez, who was injured in March a few hours before the Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika.^[14]

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
2005	125cc	KTM	Red Bull ADAC KTM Juniors	3	0	0	0	0	1	35th	–
2006	125cc	KTM	Red Bull KTM Junior Team	9	0	0	0	0	4	26th	–
2007	125cc	Aprilia	Blusens Aprilia	9	0	0	0	0	39	18th	–
2008	125cc	Aprilia	Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing	17	2	6	0	2	187	4th	–
2009	125cc	Aprilia	Viessmann Kiefer Racing	16	0	0	0	0	85	10th	–
2010	Moto2	Suter	Viessmann Kiefer Racing	16	1	1	0	0	97	9th	–
2011	Moto2	Kalex	Viessmann Kiefer Racing	17	4	11	7	3	274	1st	1
2012	MotoGP	Honda	LCR Honda MotoGP	18	0	0	0	0	135	8th	–
2013	MotoGP	Honda	LCR Honda MotoGP	16	0	1	1	0	156	7th	–
2014	MotoGP	Honda	LCR Honda MotoGP	18	0	0	0	0	117	9th	–
2015	MotoGP	Yamaha Forward	Athinà Forward Racing	8	0	0	0	0	9	18th	–
2015	MotoGP	Aprilia	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	9	0	0	0	0	8	18th	–
2016	MotoGP	Aprilia	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	17	0	0	0	0	63	16th	–
2018	MotoGP	Honda	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	1	0	0	0	0	0	24th	–
			HRC Honda Team	2	0	0	0	0	0
			LCR Honda	2	0	0	0	0	10
2019	MotoGP	Honda	Team HRC	1	0	0	0	0	6	21st	–
2019	MotoGP	Honda	Repsol Honda Team	3	0	0	0	0	10	21st	–
2020	MotoGP	Honda	Repsol Honda Team	11	0	0	0	0	27	19th	–
2021	MotoGP	Honda	Repsol Honda Team	3	0	0	0	0	8	22nd	–
2021	MotoGP	Honda	Honda HRC	2	0	0	0	0	6	22nd	–
2022	MotoGP	Honda	Repsol Honda Team	7	0	0	0	0	2	26th	–
2022	MotoGP	Honda	Team HRC	1	0	0	0	0	0	26th	–
2023	MotoGP	Honda	Repsol Honda Team	1	0	0	0	0	0	26th	-
			Team HRC	2	0	0	0	0	2
			LCR Honda	3	0	0	0	0	6
Total				212	7	19	8	5	1252		1

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125cc	2005–2009	2005 Catalunya	2008 Qatar	2008 Czech Republic	54	2	6	0	2	316	0
Moto2	2010–2011	2010 Qatar	2010 Portugal	2010 Portugal	33	5	12	7	3	371	1
MotoGP	2012–2016, 2018–present	2012 Qatar	2013 United States		125	0	1	1	0	565	0
Total	2005–present				212	7	19	8	5	1252	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Pts
2005	125cc	KTM	SPA	POR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT Ret	NED	GBR	GER 16	CZE 15	JPN	MAL	QAT	AUS	TUR	VAL					35th	1
2006	125cc	KTM	SPA DNQ	QAT 26	TUR 19	CHN 20	FRA 18	ITA 16	CAT WD	NED 31	GBR Ret	GER 18	CZE 12	MAL DNS	AUS	JPN	POR	VAL					26th	4
2007	125cc	Aprilia	QAT	SPA	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT 9	GBR	NED 10	GER 13	CZE	RSM 7	POR 6	JPN 15	AUS Ret	MAL 13	VAL Ret				18th	39
2008	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 3	SPA 4	POR 8	CHN 5	FRA 6	ITA 10	CAT 4	GBR Ret	NED 12	GER 2	CZE 1	RSM Ret	INP 3	JPN 1	AUS 2	MAL Ret	VAL Ret				4th	187
2009	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 8	JPN 4	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 8	CAT 7	NED 6	GER Ret	GBR Ret	CZE 7	INP 7	RSM 6	POR 4	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	VAL Ret					10th	85
2010	Moto2	Suter	QAT Ret	SPA 14	FRA 9	ITA 14	GBR Ret	NED 19	CAT	GER 9	CZE 9	INP Ret	RSM 5	ARA 9	JPN 7	MAL 7	AUS 5	POR 1	VAL Ret				9th	97
2011	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 1	SPA 5	POR 1	FRA 3	CAT 1	GBR 1	NED Ret	ITA 2	GER 2	CZE 3	INP 6	RSM 2	ARA 8	JPN 4	AUS 2	MAL 2	VAL Ret				1st	274
2012	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 8	SPA 7	POR 9	FRA 5	CAT 8	GBR 8	NED Ret	GER 5	ITA 4	USA 7	INP 6	CZE 5	RSM 6	ARA Ret	JPN 6	MAL Ret	AUS 6	VAL Ret			8th	135
2013	MotoGP	Honda	QAT Ret	AME 5	SPA Ret	FRA 10	ITA 4	CAT 5	NED 6	GER 4	USA 2	INP 7	CZE 6	GBR 6	RSM 5	ARA 5	MAL DNS	AUS DNS	JPN 5	VAL 6			7th	156
2014	MotoGP	Honda	QAT Ret	AME 4	ARG 5	SPA 10	FRA 7	ITA Ret	CAT 5	NED 10	GER 16	INP Ret	CZE 7	GBR 7	RSM Ret	ARA 4	JPN 7	AUS Ret	MAL 4	VAL 8			9th	117
2015	MotoGP	Yamaha Forward	QAT 16	AME Ret	ARG 15	SPA 16	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 8	NED Ret	GER												18th	17
2015	MotoGP	Aprilia										INP 20	CZE 14	GBR Ret	RSM 16	ARA 18	JPN 18	AUS 21	MAL 10	VAL 18			18th	17
2016	MotoGP	Aprilia	QAT Ret	ARG 7	AME 10	SPA 14	FRA 10	ITA 14	CAT 12	NED 8	GER DNS	AUT 19	CZE 14	GBR Ret	RSM 12	ARA 10	JPN 10	AUS 11	MAL 17	VAL 13			16th	63
2018	MotoGP	Honda	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER 16	CZE Ret	AUT	GBR	RSM Ret	ARA	THA	JPN	AUS	MAL 13	VAL 9		24th	10
2019	MotoGP	Honda	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA 10	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER 10	CZE 15	AUT 13	GBR	RSM	ARA	THA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		21st	16
2020	MotoGP	Honda	SPA	ANC	CZE 18	AUT 17	STY 18	RSM 18	EMI DNS	CAT 17	FRA 8	ARA 17	TER 12	EUR 12	VAL 14	POR 7							19th	27
2021	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 11	DOH 14	POR	SPA 12	FRA	ITA	CAT	GER	NED	STY	AUT	GBR	ARA	RSM 14	AME	EMI	ALR 15	VAL			22nd	14
2022	MotoGP	Honda	QAT	INA	ARG 19	AME	POR	SPA Ret	FRA	ITA	CAT Ret	GER 16	NED 18	GBR 19	AUT 17	RSM 14	ARA	JPN	THA	AUS	MAL	VAL	26th	2
2023	MotoGP	Honda	POR	ARG	AME Ret	SPA 14	FRA	ITA	GER	NED 13	GBR	AUT	CAT	RSM 18	IND 15	JPN 14	INA	AUS	THA	MAL	QAT	VAL	26th	8

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		Pos	Pts
Year	Bike	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Pos	Pts
2017	Honda	AUS 15	AUS 15	THA 10	THA Ret	SPA 9	SPA 12	NED 6	NED 10	ITA 10	ITA 14	GBR Ret	GBR 11	ITA NC	ITA 10	USA 11	USA 11	GER DNS	GER 13	POR Ret	POR DNS	FRA	FRA	SPA	SPA	QAT	QAT	14th	67