Source: MotoGP.

Following his Misano mishap MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez will look to make immediate amends in front of the Spanish fans this weekend at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon, the 14th round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship.

This weekend’s event will be the fifth time that the Aragon circuit has hosted a GP since joining the calendar in 2010 and Sunday’s MotoGP contest in Spain will also be the 800th race in the premier-class class of grand prix racing, since the world championships were first introduced in 1949.

The current runaway standings leader Marquez slipped out of podium contention as he tried to stay with eventual race winner Valentino Rossi last time out on the Adriatic coast, eventually finishing the race 15th.

Marquez still has a 74 point lead in the standings with five rounds to go and a victory at Aragon would edge him closer to retaining the title before the forthcoming ‘flyaway’ triple header.

Still second in the world championship, Marquez’s Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa will aim to prevent his colleague extending the standings advantage. The winner of the 2012 Aragon race, Pedrosa was unlucky in last year’s Grand Prix as he crashed out due to a broken sensor having been innocuously clipped by Marquez.

For Rossi, his sensational win in front of an ecstatic Misano crowd came more than 18 years after his first ever GP victory in the 125cc class at Brno in 1996, making him the rider with the longest winning career of all-time in grand prix racing – taking this record from his friend Loris Capirossi.

For Rossi and his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP teammate Jorge Lorenzo their mission is to beat their Repsol Honda rivals again, with Lorenzo still aiming to register a first victory of 2014, after four recent consecutive second place finishes.

Ducati Team rider Andrea Dovizioso just missed the podium in Italy at round 13 and intends to continue his consistent form in the championship, as does his compatriot and future teammate Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) who rode well to fifth place at the last round.

The likes of Aleix Espagaro (NGM Forward Racing), his brother Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Pol’s teammate Bradley Smith, Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) will all be hustling for top ten prominence come Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Drive M7 Aspar team are expected to welcome back 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden at round 14, as the American returns from his recent lengthy lay-off due to wrist surgery.

Tito Rabat has seized the initiative in the Moto2 title fight over the last three rounds and he will push to extend his winning run in front of the Spanish fans at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon this weekend.

Rabat returns to Aragon as the Moto2 standings leader, fresh from his third successive victory last time out at Misano. The Marc VDS Racing Team rider now holds a 22-point lead over his teammate Mika Kallio, having beaten the Finn into second place in each of the last three races.

Indeed, at Misano Rabat became just the third rider – along with Toni Elias and Marc Marquez – to score three or more successive wins in the Moto2 class.

On home territory this weekend at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon Alex Rins and Alex Marquez will be looking to apply further pressure on Jack Miller at the head of the Moto3 standings.

With five rounds remaining in 2014, Australia’s Miller continues to hold the world championship lead and the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider has won four races so far this season.