Repsol Honda's
Dani Pedrosa wasn't the only rider hampered by physical issues on the final day of private
MotoGP testing at Austin, Texas.
LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl, the only other full-time rider on track on Thursday, had to abandon plans for a long run due to pain in his hand.
“Overnight my left hand started to ache and this morning it was oddly swollen,” For this reason I was not able to be very aggressive on the bike - especially on hard braking and left corners - and we decided to cancel the afternoon race simulation.
“However we improved some areas like the braking stability and we tried different hard tyres both rear and front gathering more data for the race weekend. Overall it was a useful test for us because we had the first approach with this new track and we gained more track time before the start of the season.”
Just one more test, at Jerez, now remains before the start of the 2013 racing season in early April. COTA will make its
MotoGP debut as round two of the series, when Bradl will hope to exploit this week's track time.
Bradl was one of only five full-time riders present for this week's test, with Yamaha then leaving after the second day.