Stefan Bradl has added his name to those that have praised the new MotoGP qualifying format after it was used for the first time in Qatar tonight. The German agreed with Jorge Lorenzo that the shorter session increases the nerves for the teams but he kept his head to secure fifth on the grid, the second quickest Honda behind Dani Pedrosa.
Bradl hadn’t shown that kind of pace during the three timed practice sessions, only just scraping through to Q2 on Friday, but a breakthrough in the final 30 minute session before qualifying enabled him to challenge for a place in the second row.
“The fifth position is our target because the rivals are very strong in every circuit and in every condition, so we must be very happy with our performance today. During the free practice 4 we improved our set-up and our front-end feeling which was the key for going faster. I was not completely happy so we made another adjustment before the QP and we have been lucky because it worked good. This new qualifying system made everybody nervous but, at the end, it has been exciting. All the riders used the same strategy and there was a lot of traffic but we will get used to this and I think it’s more fun for our fans”.
