Losail, Qatar – 29 March 2015: Alex Marquez marked his debut for Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS with a points scoring finish in 11th position under the floodlights in Qatar. Tito Rabat’s race came to a premature end after just 3 laps, when the defending champion collided with Simone Corsi in turn one and crashed out uninjured.

Marquez, who crashed uninjured in the warm up earlier today, lost places in the opening laps but quickly rediscovered his rhythm and started to gain ground on the riders ahead of him with a string of consistently quick laps. In the latter stages of the race he closed onto the battle for tenth place, but ran out of laps before being able to make a challenge and eventually crossed the line to finish a creditable 11th. 

Rabat’s race got off to a difficult start from the front row of the grid, when the reigning Moto2 World Champion hit a false neutral on the entry to turn one and dropped back to eighth position. Rabat was moving back up the field when he went up the inside of Corsi at turn one, but crashed uninjured when the Italian closed the door on him after initially running wide.

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS will return to action in two weeks time, at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas. 

Alex Marquez: 11th
“To finish the race and to gain experience for the next races was positive, but we had some problems in the first four laps because my mind wasn’t so clear after the crash in warm up. However, I finished the race, picked up my first Moto2 World Championship points and I leave here with a clear idea of where we can improve both the bike and my riding style for the next race. Thanks to the team for all their hard work this weekend, now we must look forward to Texas.”

Tito Rabat: DNF
“Not the start to the season we were looking for, especially as we’d done a good job all weekend and worked hard to get onto the front row of the grid. My start was good, but then the bike hit neutral as I backshifted for turn one forcing me wide and I lost even more places in turn four on the same lap. After that I got my head down and tried to increase my pace, but when I passed Corsi up the inside he cut across my line and took out my front wheel. It was impossible to avoid a crash and that was the end of my race. Sorry to the team, to my mechanics, but now we must keep working ready for Texas.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“The crash in warm up this morning wasn’t the ideal way for Alex to start the day, but after losing some places from the start, he eventually found his rhythm and rode an intelligent race to claim points on his Moto2 debut. He will have learnt a lot in his first Moto2 race today, and I think we’ll see that clearly next time out in Texas. It was not the start to the season we were expecting for Tito, but if you make mistakes on the opening lap then there is always a risk in having to fight your way past riders that you never normally encounter in a race. He’s disappointed, but he needs to put it behind him and focus on Texas, where I’m sure he will get his title defence back on track.”