Alex Marquez: It will be intense

After lopping an impressive nine-seconds from his race time during the Jerez weekends, MotoGP rookie Alex Marquez now heads for the new challenges of Brno in the Czech Republic, then Red Bull Ring in Austria.

“This [Brno] will be just the fifth circuit I have ridden a MotoGP bike at, but it is one I have always enjoyed riding and it has suited my style a lot in the past," said the reigning Moto2 champion, who collected 12-8 finishes at the Spanish season-openers.

"We gathered a lot of good information from the two weekends in Jerez so now we can apply what we have learned to a new circuit.

"Every session I learn more about MotoGP and my bike, I am looking forward to riding in Brno and starting three races in three weekends, it will be intense but I am looking forward to it."

Alex spent the first Jerez weekend focussing on his riding style, before making set-up tweaks for the second round.

One of his key targets for Brno will be a better qualifying, after being left down in 21st in both Jerez appearances.

"We need to qualify more in front, because in the first laps it's so easy to lose many seconds with some fights and with people who are a little bit slower than us. So the qualifying will be the point we need to improve for Brno."

The only rider to make a bigger leap in race performance than Alex during the Jerez rounds was LCR's Takaaki Nakagami.

The Japanese also took over as the leading Honda rider in the absence of Alex's brother, team-mate and reigning champion Marc Marquez.

"For sure I had a look at Taka and I tried to understand why he is faster than us. He is unbelievably fast in fast corners, especially in corner speed," Alex said.

"He has a little bit different setup. His riding style is not to be so strong on the braking point, but he is so fast in mid-corner. So I am trying to understand which points I need to improve, but for me it's clear that we need to make a step in corner speed at Brno.

"For me, the best person to compare to is Marc, because he is able to be faster than everybody, but [at Jerez 2] I compared more with Taka, because he was on track with the same conditions as me."

Alex will also be without his brother's data this weekend as the #93 continues his recovery from a broken right arm and is replaced by HRC test rider Stefan Bradl.

"I hope Marc can recover well and quickly!" said Alex.