Austin, Texas – 10 April 2015: Reigning Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat ended a day of wildly contrasting weather conditions in Texas to finish third fastest on the timesheets at the spectacular Circuit of the Americas.
 
Rabat bounced back superbly from a turn 13 crash in treacherously wet conditions in FP1 to challenge for the top three throughout in a FP2 session run on a full dry track.
 
A late crash at the final corner failed to drop Rabat out of the top three, who was only 0.375s behind pacesetter Sam Lowes, despite the Spaniard not being completely confident in the front-end feeling of his Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex package.
 
Alex Marquez also had two crashes on an eventful opening day, with the reigning Moto3 World Champion finishing 24th on the combined timesheets.
 
That position certainly didn’t reflect Marquez’s true potential after he was able to run inside the top six for long periods in the wet FP1 and a late crash at the fast turn two in FP2 prevented him from improving on a best lap of 2.12.856.
 
Tito Rabat 3rd – 2’10.938
“I had two crashes and fortunately I was uninjured in both. In the wet I had a good feeling and was improving step-by-step when I lost the front at turn 13. The track was dry for the second session but still not in perfect condition, so I was happy to be in the top three. But it doesn’t matter what we do to the set-up of the bike, I don’t feel the front and don’t understand when I am on the limit. We will keep working to improve this area but I am confident we can have a strong result.”
 
Alex Marquez 24th – 2’12.856
“I was really happy with my pace in the wet and the bike set-up gave me a lot of confidence. The crash at turn four was unfortunate and the second crash at the end of FP2 was strange. We checked the data and I was on the same line and speed as the previous lap through turn two, so maybe I hit a bump. The forecast for the rest of the weekend is for wet conditions, so I am confident after this morning that we can be inside the top 10.”
 
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“The main thing after four crashes in one day is that Tito and Alex were unhurt. It was a tricky day with the conditions changing so much from FP1 to FP2, but I am happy to see Tito looking strong in the dry, even if it looks like Sunday’s race will be wet. It is important after Qatar that he scores some points, and again it looks like he is the only one to rival Lowes and Zarco. Alex was looking very good in the wet and that will give him confidence if it rains for the rest of the weekend. And I am sure he’d have improved in the dry had it not been for the late crash.”