Alex Marquez admits “riding style not the best” on his "weekend to forget"

14th in the Hungarian MotoGP marked Alex Marquez’s worst grand prix finish of the season at Balaton Park, making it a “weekend to forget” for the rider second in the riders’ standings.

Marquez started 14th in the race after qualifying 11th and serving a three-place grid penalty for riding slowly on the line in Practice on Friday.

The Gresini Racing rider had picked his way through to 12th by the end of lap one, but crashed at the first turn on the second lap. He remounted and took two points for 14th in the end.

The crash-and-remount on Sunday came after finishing eighth in the Sprint, which followed that disappointing 11th-place qualifying.

Marquez said after the Sunday race that he simply didn’t have the speed all weekend in Balaton, but that the next MotoGP round in Barcelona presents the “best scenario” for him to rebound.

“A weekend to forget,” Alex Marquez told MotoGP.com after the Hungary race.

“We didn’t have the speed during all the weekend – we were not bad but not the speed we got used to having.

“We were struggling a lot.

“It’s true that we have some issues on the setup, but also my riding style was not the best all weekend, especially for this track.

“We need to take the information, keep calm, don’t panic.

“In Austria we were really fast, we were in the front row, and we were fighting for the Sprint victory. So, we just need to take it easy.

“Now we have in front of us the best scenario that is Catalunya to rebuild again the confidence and make a solid weekend that will be important for our championship.

“So, it’s what we will try and from that point we will try to be complete in all the races.”