In heatwave conditions Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Alex Marquez finished fourth on day one of free practice with teammate Joan Mire close behind in eighth position.

The sun drenched Brno circuit saw track temperatures hit 49 degrees on the opening day of practice for Sunday’s Czech Republic Grand Prix.

After the two week summer break to regain fitness Marquez was quickly back to top form and set his best lap of 2’03.411 in FP2, a one second improvement on Fp1. Marquez was just 0.29s off the fastest time fo the day.

Moto2 rookie Joan Mir who made a massive 1.3s improvement from his FP1 time to finish eighth overall. The top eight riders were separated by just 0.44s putting both Marquez and Mir in contention to challenge for front row spots in qualifying.

Tomorrow’s FP3 session is scheduled for 10:55am with qualifying at 3:05pm.

Alex Marquez: 4th, 2’03.411

“It was nice to back on the bike although after the holidays you are always a little stiff on the first day. We made some good steps today although we have to manage the tyres because we only have four soft tyres and need to keep one for qualifying. I’m happy but we still need to find a small step with the front-end feeling to be faster.”

Joan Mir: 8th, 2’03.567

“Although I made a good step with my times in FP2 it was not an easy day. We tried many things on the bike including a different swing arm but it was not the right direction for our set-up. Now we need to find the step to be faster to challenge for a good position in qualifying.”