Stefan Bradl made a solid return to action in LCR Honda CASTROL Team colours as he deputised for Cal Crutchlow on the opening day of free practice at the Malaysia Grand Prix. With the Briton sidelined for the event at Sepang through injury after sustaining a fractured right ankle at Phillip Island, Bradl took over duties on his Castrol branded RC213V on Friday.

The German was quickly back into his stride on the MotoGP machinery and placed 15th in FP1, one position ahead of HRC factory rider Dani Pedrosa. Although the threat of storms failed to materialise and the track stayed mainly dry, he was unable to better his time from the morning in FP2 but is hopeful of further improvement on Saturday.


#6 Stefan Bradl – (17th – 2’01.313)

“The first day went ok. The team did a good job and we worked in the same way we did when I was with them years ago – everything felt quite familiar. Today we were quite lucky with the weather, we had two dry sessions which was good for me to get a feeling with the bike. We tried some different settings and tyre choices and I started to get the right feeling, in the right moment with the right tyre. So everything is going ok so far, I hope we can continue like this. We need to get a little bit more confidence with the bike, but after a long break and on my first day back with the bike, I think that is normal.”