Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Álex Márquez will target victory in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix from position two on the front of the grid.

In a superb comeback Marquez missed pole position by just 71 thousandths of a second and is primed to challenge for his first win of the season in his home race at Jerez.

Earlier in the FP3 session Marquez suffered loss of confidence after a front-end crash at turn six (Dry Sack). 

But the spirited Spaniard bounced back with a fearless late charge in qualifying to grab a front row spot.

Moto2 rookie Joan Mir bravely climbed out of his sick bed to qualify sixth fastest despite suffering from a physically draining stomach illness.

Mir missed a front row start by just 0.3s.

Álex Márquez: 2nd – 1’41.996
“I am on the front row and happy enough as I was not at 100%, I lost a little bit of confidence after my crash in FP3 this morning. It was a mistake but I was not sure how it happened. We tried a few different things with the bike in qualifying but in the end I knew I just had to push and go for a lap time. If we can improve the bike in the warm-up I will go for the win in my home race.”

Joan Mir: 5th – 1’42.367
“Physically I am destroyed, I feel weak and it was difficult to do more than two laps because I have been sick all day. But the second row is a good position for the race and to get away with the front group. Now we just have settle on our final set-up in morning warm-up and hopefully my physical condition will improve overnight.”

Marc van der Straten: Team Owner
“It is such a pleasure to come to the first European race of the season with the team and to witness such a strong performance from our riders Álex and Joan in qualifying. Álex's position on the front row means he's ideally placed to fight for the win tomorrow, just as he did here one year ago. Joan's performance was even more impressive given that he is suffering with illness and is far from completely fit. We have a strong team so there's no reason why both of our riders shouldn't be contenders for a podium finish tomorrow. To achieve that we need to focus fully on the race and ensure we provide both riders with the most competitive package possible.”