Stefan Bradl

Stefan Bradl (born 29 November 1989 in Augsburg, West Germany) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer who currently is a rider in the MotoGP Class. He is the 2011 Moto2 World Champion, and the son of former racer Helmut Bradl.

He 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 another three 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 MotoGP Academy.

Bradl was offered by Alberto Puig to ride his Repsol Honda factory 250cc team for 2007; he withdrew after a couple of tests due to personal problems, but didn't stop racing. Later, he joined the 125cc Spanish Championship with Blusens Aprilia. winning the title just five points ahead of his team mate 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 Raul Romero placed him in 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.

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 in 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. After a successful test on an 800cc Honda for the LCR team he was signed to ride a 1000cc LCR Honda in 2012.