With his fastest time of the weekend so far Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Franco Morbidelli has qualified in 15th position for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The young Italian rider went 0.2s under his previous best to claim his fifth row starting spot in sunny and warm conditions at Jerez.

The QP1 session was fiercely contested with Morbidelli only just missing out on the chance to progress through to QP2.

Just as impressive was the dramatic improvement by Swiss rider Tom Lüthi who went 0.6s under his previous personal best time to claim 18th on the grid for the 25 lap race.

Both Morbidelli and Lüthi feel they have the potential to finish in the points.

The Spanish Grand Prix is round four of the MotoGP World Championship.

Franco Morbidelli: 15th- 1’38.544
“Unfortunately I didn’t achieve my maximum potential in qualifying with a mistake at turn eight that cost valuable time. But I am fast and feel I can fight for some good points in the race although we are still looking to improve stability on corner exit. In FP4 we managed to find a good balance on used tyres so this is positive for the race.”

Tom Lüthi: 18th – 1’38.752
“Finally I did a good qualifying session, I had a precise feeling with the bike and improved my times. But I still need to improve my race rhythm, I lose time when the tyre drops after a few laps and hopefully we can find some solutions in the warm-up tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to a strong race.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“I am satisfied with qualifying from both riders after we struggled to find the ideal set-up on Friday. We made some good steps in FP3 this morning and we now have a good base, which is a step forward after a difficult weekend at the previous race in Texas. I think both Franco and Tom can challenge for points in the race.”