Alex Marquez 'determined to come back stronger' at Misano

After suffering his first non-score as a MotoGP rider last time in Austria, Alex Marquez is 'determined to come back stronger' at Misano this weekend.

The Repsol Honda rookie has a best premier-class finish of eighth place and total of 15 points so far this season.

But that's only enough for 15th in the world championship, leaving the young Spaniard trailing race-winning newcomer Brad Binder by a massive 34 points.

Another KTM rookie, Iker Lecuona, is also just two points from Marquez despite only scoring in two of the five races.

Qualifying is the obvious area of improvement for Alex, who is yet to start higher than 16th place.

“It has been nice to return home, relax a little, see the family and keep training. Austria did not go exactly as I wanted it to, but I am determined to come back stronger this weekend," said Alex, who took part in a MotoGP shakedown test for Honda at Misano back in 2016.

"We had a good battle and result in Misano in the esport race earlier this year, hopefully we can have a good race again! Misano is a circuit with a lot of variety, the tight opening section and the faster back section.”

The track has also been resurfaced for this weekend, when Stefan Bradl will again replace Alex's injured brother Marc on the other factory RC213V.

“I am happy to be back with the Repsol Honda Team for Misano. We made some good progress in the first three races and I have good experience around Misano," said Bradl who has finished 17th, 18th, 17th in his three appearances so far this season.

"Like always, it’s going to be a busy weekend, but we are starting with more information and data than the previous rounds which will help us be stronger from the start. Let’s see what the weekend brings.”

Repsol Honda is currently last in the teams' standings with 15 points, compared with second place and 111 points after the opening five rounds of last season.

Marc Marquez's absence is also hurting Honda badly in the constructors' standings, where the factory is currently fifth (46 points) compared with first place (101 points) a year ago.

But even if Honda continues its podium-less run for the entire season, it will not gain concessions next year. Due to the shortened world championship, it was decided that concessions could only be lost during 2020 (as has now happened to KTM) but not gained.