Paul Bird Motorsports’ Broc Parkes put forward his strongest performance of the 2014 MotoGP season at Catalunya, marginally missing out on points in a certain confidence-boost to his rookie campaign.

Parkes wound up 16th in the Spanish thriller won by hometown hero Marc Marquez, and it was a real breakthrough ride for the experienced Australia that saw him push Honda RCV1000R-mounted Japanese ace Hiroshi Aoyama to the finish just outside the points.

“I got a really good start, so I was in the battle and behind the customer Hondas for a while – there were even a couple behind me,” Parkes reflected. “I felt really good this weekend, even though I hadn’t been to this track before.

“I kind of gelled with the track from the first session and the bike worked quite good. I made a lot of progress over the weekend and for me I think that the bike was the best it’s worked all year and for me it was the best race. I was really happy with my performance.

“From my side, that was the closest I’ve been to the guys in front and you could say the best of the CRTs in my battle. It’s just positive, so I;’m happy with myself and I think we can keep improving.”

With Assen in the Netherlands next on the schedule – a circuit Parkes is familiar with from his World Superbike and Supersport career – he’s buoyant that the upswing of form will continue with momentum on his side.

“Assen’s a track I know really well, so I’m looking really forward to that,” he added. “It should be another track we can roll out really well, and with the confidence going there, hopefully we can keep building on our results. We were only one second from 15th [at Catalunya], so next race we’ll try get a point.”

Parkes’ lone point so far in 2014 came at Qatar’s season opener, where he scored 15th in the attrition-filled race on debut in MotoGP.