Despite flashes of promise throughout the weekend, the Repsol Honda Team leave the first of two races in Misano unrewarded despite the efforts of Alex Marquez and Stefan Bradl.
Putting a difficult Saturday behind him, Alex Marquez showed his maturity as he approached Sunday with an open mind. A strong performance in morning Warm Up, ending ninth and only 0.321 off the fastest time set by Takaaki Nakagami, proved there was promise in his race pace. A steady start as the lights went out saw Alex make up a handful of places early, the MotoGP rookie spending much of the race working on getting past Petrucci. Matching the speed of the leaders during the closing stages, Alex was forced to settle for 17th – his qualifying position meaning he could do no more even with his speed at the end of the race.
Stefan Bradl pushed hard with gritted teeth as the German rider battled through right elbow issues. A strong start to the race saw his Honda RC213V shoot forward, making up a number of positions. But with the issue in his elbow, he was unable to match the pace he had shown during the weekend and entered damage limitation mode to bring the bike home in 18th.
Takaaki Nakagami took top Honda honours in ninth, his sixth top-ten finish of the 2020 season.
There’s little time to rest as Alex Marquez will be back out on track on Tuesday, September 15, before the Gran Premio dell’Emilia Romagna e della Riviera di Rimini begins on Friday, September 18. With a week’s racing at the circuit under their belts, the Repsol Honda Team are determined to take their learnings and come back stronger next week.