Alex Marquez will start from second on the front for Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS in the Czech Republic Grand with teammate Joan qualifying in 12th position.

The Brno heatwave sent track temperatures soaring to a tropical 53 degrees for an exhausting qualifying session that saw the top 12 riders separated by just half a second.

With a superbly timed final run Marquez scored his sixth front row start of the season so far with his time of 2’02.359 just missing pole by 0.115s.

After FP3 Marquez was third fastest and his constant presence in the front group in practice and qualifying augurs well for a podium challenge.

Meanwhile Mir remains positive for the race despite being unable to capitalise on his full potential to challenge for the front row after being impressively sixth fastest overall in free practice.

The warm-up session for Moto2 will be at 9:10am with the 19 lap race timed to to start at 12:20pm.

Alex Marquez: 2nd, 2’02.359

“I these conditions I knew how important it would be to get a good starting position, there is always some pressure get on the front row. In the race it will be interesting to see how everyone handles the conditions, both the weather and tyres which drop a lot after five laps. But I feel confident with a good race rhythm so I’m aiming to gain some points on my rivals in the championship.”

Joan Mir: 12th, 2’02.748

“It has been a difficult day and we do not really understand what happened in qualifying, the bike was not working as I expected. I did not have the feeling to push for a faster time. So I’m starting 12th which is not a big problem as long as we find a good set-up for the race and solve the problems we had in qualifying.”