Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Joan Mir charged to an impressive fifth place while Alex Marquez makes a determined comeback for 18th.

The 25 lap San Marino Grand Prix was run in warm and sunny conditions before a capacity crowd.

Joan Mir showed his podium intentions with the fourth fastest time in the warm-up and surged from tenth on the grid to sixth at the end of lap one. After tense battles with Jorge Navarro and then Mattia Pasini a fourth place looked certain before Mir was forced to drop one position for exceeding track limits with three laps remaining to finish fifth behind Pasini.

Alex Marquez was unable to take advantage of his strong fifth place in the morning warm-up when he was bumped off track at turn 14 on lap one. This dropped the Spaniard from 11th to 32nd position and he then staged a brave fightback with a brilliant recovery to finish 18th but unfortunately out of a deserving points finish.

The next race for the Moto2 World Championship will be held on September 23rd at MotorLand Aragon.

Joan Mir: 5th, +6.728
“It was a positive day for me especially as I was fast at the end of the race after struggling for pace in the first part. We need to understand as we look ahead to be even better at the next race in Aragon”

Alex Marquez: 18th, +39.551
“I lost my chance in the race when I was touched by another rider on the first lap, this can happen in the  group. I picked up my bike and then had a pretty good rhythm for the rest of the race but we still need to improve, especially the rear grip. The important thing was to finish after the crash and be positive for the next race.”