Stefan Bradl Joins Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
Ahead of Sachsenring MotoGP – round nine that took place ahead of the month-long summer break – Marco Melandri split with Aprilia Racing Team Gresini. The 32-year-old Italian was clearly frustrated with the RS-GP, and severed his ties with the team. This left Alvaro Bautista as the sole Aprilia RS-GP pilot for that round, and Aprilia did not announce a substitute rider.
But that changed this past weekend when Aprilia announced that the 2011 Moto2 Champion, Stefan Bradl, will fill the vacancy left by Melandri for the remaining nine races of 2015 MotoGP. Bradl’s first appearance with the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini will be this weekend at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix (August 7-9).
The 25-year-old German competed in the opening eight races aboard the Forward Racing Team Open Class Yamaha, earning nine points. He was forced to miss his home GP at Sachsenring due to a fractured schaphoid he sustained at round eight – the Dutch GP. He has since recovered, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini reports.
Born in the Bavarian city of Augusta on Nov. 29, 1989, Bradl made his debut in World Championship Motorycle racing in the 125cc category in 2005. In 2008 he took two wins and finished the season fourth in the overall standings. In 2010 he moved to Moto2, a category where he would be crowned World Champion the following year thanks to four wins.
His rookie year in MotoGP came in 2012 astride a Honda, a bike that Bradl raced for another two seasons, taking a second place finish in the 2013 United States Grand Prix as his best result.
