Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS riders Álex Márquez and Joan Mir are on target for Sunday's Grand Prix of The Americas with a double top five finish in today’s opening free practice sessions.

With the third fastest time of 2’11.173 Marquez was just 0.069s behind the best lap set by Miguel Oliveira.

Marquez was the top Kalex mounted rider in a closely contested session with the top ten separated by just half a second.

Grip levels improved dramatically for the afternoon FP2 session with much of the dust from a track smoothing operation cleared from the racing line.

Despite his dislike of the 5.5km Circuit of The Americas layout Spanish young gun Joan Mir was impressively fifth fastest in his first day of Moto2 at this track.

Álex Márquez: 3rd – 2’11.173
“I am happy with today although at the moment it seems like our main rivals have something more than us for the low grip conditions. But the gap is very small and I think we can be faster. We still need to improve the front-end feeling to give me more confidence but in general this was a very good Friday for us. Now we wait to see the weather, wet or dry, for tomorrow.”

Joan Mir: 5th – 2’11.450
“I am really happy with today’s result considering that in the past this has not been one of my favourite tracks. We have made some changes since Argentina and I am now more comfortable on the bike, especially with the rear grip. For the moment I am with the top guys and hopefully we can make another step forward tomorrow. After today I like this track a little more!”