Bradley Smith (racing driver)

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Bradley Smith
Bradley Smith (2012)
Nation: United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Motorcycle world championship
Status: active
Start number: 38
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR
225 3 9 5
World Cup points: 1503.5
Podiums: 25th
Status: end of season 2018
According to class (es):
125 cc class
First start: 2006 Spanish Grand Prix
Last start: Valencia Grand Prix 2010
Constructors
2006-2007  Honda  • 2008-2010  Aprilia
World Cup balance
Vice World Champion ( 2009 )
Starts Victories Poles SR
80 3 9 4th
World Cup points: 717.5
Podiums: 20th
Moto2 class
First start: 2011 Qatar Grand Prix
Last start: Great Britain Grand Prix 2019
Constructors
2011–2012  Tech 3  • 2019  Kalex
World Cup balance
World Cup seventh ( 2011 )
Starts Victories Poles SR
34 - - 1
World Cup points: 233
Podiums: 3
MotoGP class
First start: Qatar Grand Prix 2013
Constructors
2013–2016  Yamaha  • 2017–2018  KTM  • 2019–2020  Aprilia
World Cup balance
World Cup sixth ( 2015 )
Starts Victories Poles SR
111 - - -
World Cup points: 553
Podiums: 2
Bradley Smith 2009
Smith on Aprilia 2009 in Donington

Bradley Smith (born November 28, 1990 in Oxford , England ) is a British motorcycle racer .

Career

Smith gained experience as a graduate of the Red Bull MotoGP Academy under Alberto Puig racing experience in the 125cc class the Spanish championship before 2006 for the Repsol Honda team in the Motorcycle World Championship started. He finished his first season in 19th place and was named Rookie of the Year in the eight-liter class. In a second season in the 125cc World Championship, Smith consistently achieved the points, took third place at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans for the first time on the podium and achieved tenth place in the overall standings.

For the 2008 season Bradley Smith moved to the Polaris World 125 team and drove an Aprilia from then on . He was able to get three second and one third place out of the season and achieved sixth place in the World Cup. The following season , the British competed in the Bancaja Aspar team of four-time world champion Jorge Martínez . At the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez he achieved his first Grand Prix victory, the second followed in Italy . In addition, he came second four times and third three times. He finished the world championship as vice world champion 65.5 points behind his Spanish teammate Julián Simón .

In the 2010 season Bradley Smith was able to drive out a win, a second place and four third places and was fourth overall with 223 points.

In the 2011 season , Smith moved up to the Moto2 class, riding a self-made motorcycle for Herve Ponchoral's Tech3 team. In the sixth race, the Grand Prix of Great Britain , he finished second behind the eventual world champion Stefan Bradl for the first time on the podium, and in the next two races he also achieved podium places (third). He finished seventh overall and thus second-best rookie behind Marc Márquez . He had left his teammates Mike Di Meglio and Xavier Siméon clearly behind with 121 to 30 and 23 points respectively.

In 2012 Smith cut the season without a podium in ninth overall. Siméon, who was now his only teammate, he had defeated again with 112 to 23 points.

The Brit stayed with the team in 2013 as well , but moved up to MotoGP , where the team competed on a Yamaha . He replaced the Italian Andrea Dovizioso , who had switched to the Ducati MotoGP team . His teammate was fellow countryman Cal Crutchlow . Smith was with three sixth places as best results (and ten other top 10 placements) tenth overall and was defeated by Crutchlow with 188 to 116 points. As in Moto2, he was second-best rookie behind Márquez.

In 2014 Smith got a new teammate in the reigning Moto2 world champion Pol Espargaró . This year, too, he achieved consistent performances, including a first podium with third place at the Australian Grand Prix (it was already clear at this point that Tech3 would extend Smith for two more seasons) and three further top 5 placements. In the end he finished eighth overall, but lost to Espargaró, who had not made it to the podium, with 136 to 121 points.

The 2015 season was by far the best for Smiths. Although he only landed once on the podium (second in the San Marino Grand Prix ), he finished in the top 10 in every race and only missed the top 8 once. In the end he was sixth in the World Cup and clearly prevailed against Espargaró with 181 to 114 points.

However, 2016 turned into a clear decline. Due to an injury, he had to skip three races and otherwise only managed six top 10 positions, including a seventh place at the Italian Grand Prix as the best result. With only 62 points, he finished the season in 17th place, while Espargaró had collected 134 points. His collaboration with Tech3 ended after six seasons.

In the 2017 season , Bradley Smith drove a KTM RC16 in the KTM works team Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, who had just entered the MotoGP class, and achieved 21st place overall with 29 points, but lost 55 points to Espargaró, who had also gone to KTM hate collected.

In 2018 , Smith achieved his best KTM placement in eighth place at the season finale in Valencia and improved to 18th place in the final standings, but lost again to Espargaró with 51 to 38 points.

In 2019 Smith was exchanged for Johann Zarco and no longer received a new MotoGP contract. Instead he switched to the new MotoE Cup and drove as a single starter for Petronas Racing . He finished on the podium four times in six races, more than any other driver, and came second in the final standings behind Matteo Ferrari . His best results were three second places. At the same time he also drove a race in the Moto2 class for the same team, as a replacement for the injured regular driver Khairul Idham Pawi , but fell.

He also became a MotoGP test rider for Gresini Aprilia and also drove four wildcard appearances for the team, but didn't get any points.

The British MotoE rider and MotoGP test rider should remain in the same teams in 2020 , but then Aprilia regular rider Andrea Iannone was banned until further notice due to doping. As a result, Smith was finally signed as a regular Aprilia rider for 2020, while Jakub Kornfeil will take over his MotoE place . His teammate is Aleix Espargaró , the older brother of his former Tech3 and KTM teammate. After four races, Smith is 20 with seven points.

statistics

title

In the motorcycle world championship

(Status: end of season 2019)

season class motorcycle run Victories Podiums Poles Points Result
2006 125 cc Honda 14th - - - 20th 19th
2007 125 cc Honda 16 - 1 - 101 10.
2008 125 cc Aprilia 17th - 4th 3 150 6th
2009 125 cc Aprilia 16 2 9 3 223.5 2.
2010 125 cc Aprilia 17th 1 6th 3 223 4th
2011 Moto2 Tech 3 16 - 3 - 121 7th
2012 Moto2 Tech 3 17th - - - 109 9.
2013 MotoGP Yamaha 18th - - - 116 10.
2014 MotoGP Yamaha 18th - 1 - 121 8th.
2015 MotoGP Yamaha 18th - 1 - 181 6th
2016 MotoGP Yamaha 15th - - - 62 17th
2017 MotoGP KTM 17th - - - 29 21st
2018 MotoGP KTM 18th - - - 38 18th
2019 Moto2 Kalex 1 - - - 0 -
MotoGP Aprilia 4th - - - 0 -
MotoE Energica 6th - 4th - 88 2.
2020 MotoGP Aprilia 4th - - - 7th 20th
total 232 3 29 9 1589.5

References

Web links

Commons : Bradley Smith  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. BBC - Teenager Smith hits the big time
  2. BBC - Smith crowned rookie of the year
  3. a b c motogp.com - Bradley Smith
  4. bradley-smith.co.uk