Alex Marquez will start from fifth on the second row for Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS in the Austrian Grand Prix with teammate Joan Mir qualifying in 20th position.

The sun made a timely appearance for qualifying at Spielberg today with lap times dropping by 11 seconds compared to the wet conditions of the morning FP3 session.

Marquez was fourth overall after free practice and maintained his competitive position and will challenge for his first win of the season from fifth on the grid. Despite a small crash Marquez qualified at 1’30.058, just 0.128s off the front row.

Meanwhile Moto2 rookie Mir faces a tough challenge in the 25 lap race and is feeling frustrated not to have found set-up solutions for the fast 4.3km Spielberg track. He qualified at 1’30.486 after being unhurt from a crash at turn four.

The warm-up session for Moto2 will be at 9:10am with the race timed to start at 12:20pm.

Alex Marquez: 5th, 1’30.058, +0.649
“I had a small crash which did not disturb my qualifying too much. I was on my first tyre and just relaxing going out of pit lane and lost the front. But overall I’m happy; I was pushing right to the end of the session. I have a good rhythm and am in the battle to try for a win tomorrow. We just need to try something for more grip in sector three otherwise we are ready for the race.”

Joan Mir: 20th, 1’30.486, +1.077
“Not just a difficult day but a difficult weekend for me. I don’t know what is happening because I have not found a good feeling with the bike so it is not easy to say what is the solution. Now we have to check the data to understand what is the problem and try improving for the race. It’s a shame, I did not expect this.”