The Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider was instantly on the pace in both sessions while rookie teammate Joan Mir was 11th overall and looking to go faster.

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS riders Alex Marquez and Joan Mir were welcomed for their first appearance at Buriram by tropical heat and tough conditions on the opening day of practice for the Thailand Grand Prix.
 
Alex Marquez showed he was a fast learner by finishing third in FP1 and then continuing his quick adaption to the 4.5 km circuit in FP2. He went 0.8s faster in the afternoon session to consolidate position three overall in the energy sapping conditions.
 
Meanwhile Joan Mir felt he did achieve his maximum after being 13th in FP1 and then finishing 11th overall for the day despite a solid 0.7s improvement in FP2. A Moto2 class rookie Mir was also making his first appearance here and is confident of closing the gap to his rivals for qualifying on Saturday.
 
Tomorrow’s FP3 session is scheduled for 10:55am with qualifying at 3:05pm.
 
Alex Marquez: 3rd, 1’37.137, +0.298, 42 laps, 189 km
 
“My team did a good job with the set-up for this new track”
 
“The first day on a new track is always difficult to understand everything but we worked well with the-set-up and tyres right from the first session. I had a good rhythm but for sure the lap times will improve tomorrow, so we must concentrate to be faster. The team did a good job to give me good settings for both the gearbox and bike on this new track which was fun to ride.”

Joan Mir: 11th, 1’37.563, +0.724, 43 laps, 193 km
 
“We need to close the gap to the front guys”
 
“I think we made a mistake with our strategy today because we only used one new rear tire and I don’t think did my best lap time to show my potential here. Then on my last exit we tried something with the bike that’d didn’t work but apart from that I had a good feeling, so now we need to check the data and work to close the gap to front guys.”