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Stefan Bradl has known Marc Márquez since the Catalan round of the 125cc Championship in March 2007. "I won, but Marc had fallen," the seven-time GP winner recalled. The two rivals met again in the 125cc World Championship in 2008. Bradl, who was three years older, took 3rd place in the opening round in Qatar, celebrated his first GP victories in Brno and Motegi, and then finished the World Championship in 4th place. Márquez, on the Red Bull KTM factory team, finished 13th, overall. The two rivals then engaged in a bitter battle for the 2011 Moto2 World Championship title, which the German rider won on the Kiefer Team's Kalex, with 274 points versus 251 after four season victories.
The two opponents met for the first time in the MotoGP World Championship in 2013: Marc rode the Repsol Honda, while Bradl rode for Lucio Cecchinello's LCR Honda team for three years from 2012 to 2014, with an HRC factory contract. After a year with the Red Bull Honda Superbike factory team in 2017, when his teammate, Nicky Hayden, was killed in a crash in Misano in May, Bradl signed a contract in 2018 as an HRC MotoGP test rider for the first time. In 2025, the 35-year-old Bavarian will be a Honda test rider in the premier class for his eighth year, and his contract is also valid for 2026.
"Since Bradl became an HRC test rider, no new part has been brought to the GP racetrack that isn't better than the previous one," Marc Márquez said at the end of the 2018 season about Bradl's time as a MotoGP test rider. His former archrival from Germany had become a reliable development specialist for the RC213V, representing and replacing #93 in the Repsol factory team almost thirty times after the disastrous Jerez crash in 2020.
Incidentally, Stefan Bradl, along with Jorge Lorenzo (2015), is the only rider to prevent Márquez from winning a title in the ten years between 2010 and 2019 (in the Moto2 class in 2011). Stefan Bradl got to know and appreciate Marc's skills, professionalism, risk-taking, and commitment up close, especially during their time together with Honda in the MotoGP.
For the German veteran - whose wife, Jana, is pregnant with their second child (their daughter, Alina, is 3, and their first boy is due in August) - Marc Márquez's dominance in the Lenovo Ducati factory team (four starts, four wins) isn't a complete surprise. "I expected Marc to be at Pecco's level right from the start. The fact that he outclassed him so clearly was a bit of a surprise. Alex's strength was already apparent during the winter tests, where Marc initially risked ninety percent and then showed off in the Grand Prix. That was clear to me. I was in Thailand as a TV commentator for ServusTV, and I think Pecco's confidence was already damaged after the Sprint on Saturday. In Buriram, I felt that special aura for the first time in a while. An invincible aura that Marc had for years in Honda and that can now also be felt throughout the Ducati garage. With the media and fans, he has that certain something again. Pecco is already clearly number two."
"I find this situation exciting because the MotoGP also needs this change at the moment. It's good to have a superstar like that finally leading the World Championship again, after more than five years, and competing up in front. Jorge Martin is an exceptionally fast rider, but he lacks Marc's special aura," Bradl admitted.
After Bagnaia's two title wins in 2022 and 2023, Ducati was the only Rank-A team to be technically disadvantaged, compared to all the other manufacturers, due to the new concession regulations for 2024: fewer test tires and no more wildcards, plus, they lost the Pramac team to Yamaha.
Nevertheless, the Ducati aces fought it out for the title again, just as they did in 2024.
"Gigi Dall'Igna did a lot of things right at Ducati," Bradl said, not hesitating with his compliments. "Last year, with the GP24, he once again brought a much improved version of the GP23 onto the track. This bike has provided a significant technical boost. Marc said, last year, that he could've really given Pecco and Jorge Martin a run for their money if he had had a 2024 factory bike. He figured that out pretty quickly. Now, in the factory team, all doors are open to him. I do believe that Gigi is a fan of Marc's and that the crew chief and the rider speak a common language. They're a brilliant duo that has taken themselves to the next level through this close collaboration. It's a combination, like the one that used to exist at Ferrari between Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn or Jean Todt."
Stefan Bradl will test for HRC again in Valencia on April 15th to 16th, for the first time since December in Sepang. This week's MotoGP test in Jerez had to be cancelled due to flood clean-up efforts. Honda had registered with Nakagami, and KTM with Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaró.
Bradl is pleased that the Honda factory riders were somewhat closer to the front in the first two Grand Prix races, and that Zarco was able to secure 7th and 6th places on the LCR Honda. "The upward trend was already evident during the winter tests. Zarco was a positive surprise in Argentina, starting the final lap in fifth place. Mir and Marini were also closer and able to fight and overtake. That's a good foundation to keep the riders happy. They're no longer racing for twentieth place, but for solid points and the top ten."
Bradl agrees with LCR Honda team owner Lucio - who praised the improved power delivery and improved rideability of the new RC213V engines - but he still feels that some peak performance is lacking, which could be detrimental in Austin and Doha.
"I think Honda also benefited at Termas from the fact that Michelin delivered rear tires with a heat-resistant casing, because a lot of wheelspin was expected for that racetrack. This construction is designed for special heat-resistant races and extremely high demands on the rear tire. With this tire construction, Honda has always been a bit closer during the last few years, because the strongest opponents weren't able to reach their full potential with these tires. Now that the teams will have the tires with the softer casing available again in Jerez, Le Mans, and so on, the balance of power could shift slightly again. As for peak performance, as far as I know, HRC is working hard to catch up in this area. Honda has always been able to compete at the top in terms of engine performance in the past. An upgrade should be coming soon."
