Repsol Honda Team prepare for penultimate race, Marc Marquez to return in 2021

MotoGP 2020 Round 14, Valencia Grand Prix

Valencia, November 11, 2020: The European GP showed the great potential Alex Marquez and Stefan Bradl have built to over the season, the pair aiming to deliver as the 2020 season begins to wrap up.

As his recovery continues, Marc Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team confirm he will not participate in the remainder of the 2020 MotoGP season and aims to return to racing in 2021. Working through his recovery programme and tracking the progress of his arm, Marc Marquez in conjunction with Honda, his team and multiple expert doctors, has elected to officially delay his return to action until 2021.

Last week, Alex Marquez was the unfortunate victim of a second DNF in two races, the MotoGP rookie tumbling while fighting for the top ten. Before the fall, and throughout the weekend as a whole, Alex demonstrated consistently strong pace abroad the Honda RC213V as his impressive growth in the premier class continues. With two wet days of practice for the European GP, dry track time was at a premium and Alex is hoping for a dry weekend this time out. The objective for the second week in Valencia is to continue fighting inside the top ten.

Stefan Bradl will complete the 2020 season for the Repsol Honda Team. With back-to-back point finishes, Bradl has hit a strong vein of form and like Alex showed well during the course of the weekend, especially in the wet. Bradl will be aiming to make it three point-scoring finishes in a row, repeating his run from 2019 when he replaced the injured Jorge Lorenzo.

Alex Marquez

“Straight back to work for the second last race of the season. The two days of rain last weekend made Sunday a bit unknown, but I think we were able to handle it well before the fall. This gives me some good confidence for the weekend as I think we can work well again. Of course, everyone else will surely make a step so we need to keep working but we can challenge for our goals again. Now is the time to push and end the season in the best way possible.”

Stefan Bradl

“First of all I want to wish Marc all the best in his continued recovery and thank HRC for giving me this opportunity. We have made a lot of progress since Le Mans and I have felt my level increase with more bike time and working with the Repsol Honda Team. The week of data will help us and the forecast is looking better at the moment. It’s going to be a busy end to the year but I am looking forward to it.”

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