In the fourth Grand Prix of the year, the MotoGP World Championship arrives in Europe and the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto is the first stop, with Alex Márquez and Xavi Vierge determined to give their all in their first home GP of 2019.

• The Spanish Grand Prix is the first stop on a European journey that will last until October and it is the first of four GPs scheduled to take place in Spain.
• This will be the 33rd Grand Prix at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto, and the track is second only to Assen in the number of consecutive World Championship events staged.
• To date, 98 World Championship races have been held, which means Sunday’s Moto2 race will be the 100th that the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto has hosted.

There is a change to the Dunlop rear tyre allocation for this Grand Prix compared to those used during the first three rounds. With the same compound, the new specification tyres are slightly larger to offer an increased contact patch. The new tyres were tested in the last official IRTA test in February in Jerez.

Circuit Information:

. Length: 4423 metres
. Width: 11 metres
. Curves: 13 (8 to the right; 5 to the left)
. Longest straight: 607 metres
. Circuit direction: Clockwise
. Race distance: 23 laps
. Last winner: Lorenzo Baldassarri

Grand Prix Schedule (mainland time):

Friday:
FP1: 10h55
FP2: 15h10

Saturday:
FP3: 10h55
Q1: 15h05
Q2: 15h30

Sunday:
WU: 9h10
RACE: 12h20
 

Alex Márquez:

• Fifth in Austin after a hard-fought race, Alex Márquez gained valuable points on World Championship leader Lorenzo Baldassarri. With 36 points collected and just 14 from the top of the standings, the Cervera rider occupies fifth position in the overall World Championship standing.
• Starting from second position on the grid last year, Márquez unfortunately crashed while fighting for the podium positions after a loss of grip from the front tyre.
• In 2017, the number 73 took his first victory in the Moto2 class from Pole Position.

“It will surely be a tight weekend”

“This Grand Prix is always very special. For us it's the cathedral, so I'm really looking forward to it. It will surely be a tight weekend because official and private tests have been done here and we are all very prepared for this race. The novelty is the change of rear tyres, so the uncertainty will be to see who adapts better to the change. The objective will be, as always, to fight to be in the front positions all weekend. The best thing about Jerez is the fans, they give you wings. I'm very motivated and looking forward to the Grand Prix.”

Xavi Vierge:

• Xavi Vierge hopes that his luck will change in Europe and can demonstrate in races all the good work he has been doing in practice. The number 97 could not finish the last race in Texas after he was involved in an incident at the first corner at the American track.
• In 2018, the Catalan raced close to the podium in Jerez. Starting seventh on the grid, he consolidated fourth position from the middle of the race and eventually crossed the finish line just 0.7s away from third position.

“I'm very motivated and looking forward to turning the situation around”

“I'm very motivated and looking forward to turning the situation around. We are doing a great job with the team and it hasn't been reflected in the results so far. There is no better race than in Jerez, the first home Grand Prix, to get a good result. I have been training very hard these last two weeks with the objective of reaching 200% and being able to give everything to the fans. The best thing is the support of the fans. The most difficult thing is that, given that the official tests are done at this circuit, we all go very fast here and there is no margin for error.”