Stefan Bradl on the pursuit of Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and other frontmen, including 4 positions ahead of the German his Repsol Honda team-mate Pol Espargaró at the Losail race, where the German competed in both races instead of Marquez (© Repsol Honda).

Some news before the 2nd MotoGP European race in Andalusia

After test drivers were allowed to play wildcards again in the second Corona season, HRC Honda and their test and reserve driver Stefan Bradl will use the opportunity at the next race. This means that five Honda drivers will take part in the first free practice session in Jerez de la Frontera on Friday. If none of them get injured, the world’s largest manufacturer has five chances of winning World Cup points. Of course, miracles shouldn’t be expected from Bavarian, but with a solid performance he can definitely make it into the points. Now that he doesn’t have to compete in Repsol Honda colors, the pressure is also much lower. This team is now complete and Pol Espargaró only needs a functioning bike for Jerez. The breakdown with the defective brake at the Portugal GP was annoying for the Catalan and definitely embarrassing for one of financially the strongest teams.

Stefan Bradl Photographed by us at the Jerez GP on the HRC Honda during his last wildcard in Andalusia 2019. At that time, the German did very well and finished in a good 10th place. His employer urgently needs points in order to be better off in the manufacturers’ ranking. So Honda would definitely be happy with a repetition of the result from 2 years ago.

Why Bradl didn’t drive at the Autodromo do Algarve
We had been counting on him for Portugal, but Marc Marquez had planned and prepared his return for there at an early stage for several reasons. At least there were pictures of Honda, which showed him “by accident” less than a month ago on a MotoGP replica that cost almost 200 thousand euros. The main reason for the comeback in Portimão was probably that the expectations of him were much lower there. Without the falls of the riders in front of him, he would only have finished tenth, but it was P7. To speak of a sensation, that brings us to many neutral observers, but many consider it to be quite exaggerated. As far as is known, the Medical Commission has declared him fit to race and as soon as the lights go out, there are no more excuses. Basically, however, one can confidently and soberly speak of a respectable result, nothing more. The omens for Jerez, where the number 93 has already won several times, are completely different.

Valentino Rossi after the second race in Jerez and his last MotoGP podium in an interview. At the first run in Andalusia it had failed a week before with an engine failure, which is why the crowd’s favorite and Monster Energy Yamaha rider was all the more delighted afterwards.
We photographed turn 3 in Jerez in 2019 during the warm-up of the Supersport 600 class – this is where the career of Repsol Honda star “Quick Mick” Doohan ended in Friday training in 1999. At Marc Marquez his violent crash 21 years later brought “only” one fracture of the upper arm. The problem afterwards, however, was that, against the advice of his doctors, he got back on his Honda only 4 days after the operation and then had to pause for around 9 months.

If the weather forecast is correct – special signs for Jerez

At the moment, the current forecast for the weather in the small Andalusian town is worrying some drivers for the Grand Prix weekend. First and foremost, World Cup leader Fabio Quartararo, the best-known example of the opposite of a so-called rain artist, is unlikely to be pleased. Conversely, the prognosis for Valentino Rossi should hardly cause wrinkles on his forehead, in contrast to many rookies. The old champion is considered to be one of the best drivers in wet conditions, even if he fell in the first chicane in Le Mans last year in the rain. In the rain, Pol Espargaró clinched the first podium for KTM in Valencia in 2018, before the Catalan suffered another dry spell of a whole season. Now, however, he is riding alongside Marc Marquez in the Repsol Honda Team, who is also not a nose picker on a wet track. If nothing really changes in the current forecast, completely different omens apply for Jerez than at the GP of Portugal.

Turn 6, called “Dry Sac”, photographed by us before qualifying on Saturday in May 2019 – this time, of course, there will be no spectators due to the pandemic, which is currently causing concern for various organizers in Europe.

Schedule and TV program Jerez Grand Prix

At the time of our publication there was a bug on the official MotoGP page and the Q1 of Moto2 was given as a duration of 25 minutes, which is of course wrong. This has of course already been corrected in our timetable.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).