Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Alex Márquez finished inside the top three in both of today’s Moto2 practice sessions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Xavi Vierge showing great speed and potential in front of his home crowd.

• Data and information gathered during a recent successful two-day test at the 4.6km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya venue put Márquez and Vierge in position to compete for the top places in FP1 and FP2 today.
• Márquez was second quickest in overcast conditions this morning and third fastest as track temperature rose by 16 degrees to 45 degrees during FP2.
• Both sessions were incredibly close, with less than a second splitting the top 18 in FP1 and the fastest 19 covered by just 0.806s this afternoon.
• Márquez and Vierge will now vie for a place directly in Q2 tomorrow morning when FP3 commences at 1055am local time.

Alex Márquez: 2nd, 1:44.733, 38 laps, 176 km

• With confidence soaring after back-to-back victories in Le Mans and Mugello, Marquez continued his red-hot form in FP1 to take second position behind Tom Luthi.
• A lap of 1:44.733 was only 0.060s behind the Swiss rider, but tricky track conditions made it hard to find a faster pace in the second 45-minute session.
• A lap of 1:44.910 put the hard charging Marquez in control of FP2 with 31 minutes remaining, and that impressive speed was only bettered by Augusto Fernandez and Luthi by the time the chequered flag came out.

“I’m sure we can be fighting for the top places again tomorrow”

“Today was pretty good and the reason I’m satisfied is my pace is very consistent. The work we did here during the two-day test gave us a good base to start with but the conditions were quite different between the two sessions. This afternoon it was very hot and the changes we made didn’t work as well as expected. We need to play with the balance of the bike but I’m sure we can be fighting for the top places again tomorrow.”

Xavi Vierge 6th, 1:44.905 36 laps, 167 km

• Vierge’s crucial home round got off to an excellent start, with the Spaniard’s 1:44.905 placing him sixth on the timesheets and just over 0.2s from the fastest pace in FP1.
• Hotter conditions this afternoon meant it was a complex challenge improving lap times and Vierge set his fastest time of 1:45.301 on the sixth of his 17-lap stint, which was less than 0.5s outside of the top three.
• Pushing hard to claim a provisional place in Q2, Vierge was unhurt after a small crash at Turn 10 the final four minutes of FP2.

“We are close to the top and I’m sure we can be even more competitive”

“It has been a really positive start to my home round. I felt good with the bike from the first laps and we did a lot of good work today and the bike improved with every outing. I preferred to work on my race pace and I feel close to the top guys. In FP2 when we were assessing a different front tyre I had a little crash. I’m still happy with today. We are close to the top and with more work I’m sure we can be even more competitive.”