Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Álex Márquez set a sizzling pace in opening free practice at Jerez in advance of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Márquez confirmed his early favouritism for his home race, which also doubles as the first in Europe after three flyaway races to open the Moto2 season.

Márquez was in superb form posting the overall fastest time with a margin of 0.294s over nearest rival Lorenzo Baldassarri.

Márquez’s rookie teammate Joan Mir was also impressive in posting the seventh fastest time on the new and smoother track surface at Jerez.

The top twelve riders in the highly competitive Moto2 field were separated by just 0.7s.

Álex Márquez: 1st – 1’42.537
“Jerez is a special place and it is always a good feeling here. In the morning session we did not use the softer compound tyre, just worked on set-up with the harder option. The conditions were different in the afternoon with the higher temperatures and we evaluated the soft tyre to get all our options for the race. I am missing a little confidence in the front but overall the feeling is good.”

Joan Mir: 7th – 1’43.104
“My focus today was to work on a set-up for the race and I am quite satisfied with the direction we found, I was always in the top seven times. This is good start for the weekend and I feel confident on the bike but we still have work to do.”

Naoya Kaneko: Alex Marquez Crew Chief
“In the morning session we did a back-to-back comparison with the set-up used at the pre-season tests here and then in the afternoon we focussed on analysing the tyre options. We got some very clear feedback from that and we have a good direction for the race, although I think we can still make another step forward tomorrow.”