The consistent hard work of Alex Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team was rewarded today as the rookie returned to the top ten and scored his best MotoGP result to date.
The morning of race day got off to an ideal start for Alex Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team as the MotoGP rookie led the Warm Up. A 1’32.402 was three-tenths faster than Nakagami’s session top warm-up time a week ago and an impressive seventh-tenths quicker than Alex’s previous warm-up time. Leading his first training session in the premier class boosted confidence and confirmed Alex’s strong pace ahead of the 27-lap Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
This speed and confidence could be clearly seen when the lights went out and Alex worked steadily through the pack from 17th starting position. Within a few laps, the young Spanish driver was in the top ten when his surroundings stalled and made mistakes. Alex produced stable and constant times, pushed himself forward and held back the experienced Andrea Dovizioso. From his first flying lap of the race to the finish, Alex’s pace moved from the low 1’32s to the mid 1’33s only three times with a best lap of 1’32,865 on lap 19.
Alex and Takaaki Nakagami battled for sixth place and the top Honda award in the final laps. Alex crosses the finish line in seventh and 11,929 seconds behind winner Viñales and rounds off a strong weekend with his best result so far in the Premier Class. Alex also bridges the gap with Brad Binder in the Rookie of the Year competition.
It won’t be long before Alex and the Repsol Honda team return to the Catalan GP in Barcelona on September 25-27. Stefan Bradl will join the Repsol Honda team again alongside Alex Marquez.