Son of former GP winner Helmut Bradl (runner-up in the 1991 250 World Championship) Stefan Bradl has been around racing motorcycles all his life. His father introduced him to minibikes and it wasn’t long before Bradl’s competitive instincts got the better of him. He got his first big break in 2003 when he was granted an entry in the high-profile Red Bull Rookies Cup. That gave Bradl a taste of GP circuits but for the next few years he focused on national events, winning the German 125 title in 2005, when he also made his GP debut. He raced his first 125 GP campaign in 2006, but his year was spoiled by a freak accident that left him with a badly broken leg and brought him close to quitting. Bradl came of age in 2008 when he won two GPs and scored a further four podiums to finish fourth overall. He struggled to reproduce that form in 2009, but shone in the inaugural Moto2 series, winning the Portuguese round.

Stop Press : Stefan Bradl - Moto2 World Champion