In a complicated race, Alex Márquez finished in 6th place, which keeps his lead in the title race at a healthy 36 points, while Xavi Vierge suffers an unfortunate crash.

• After Saturday’s heavy rain, dry conditions and mild ambient temperatures of 24 degrees greeted Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS team-mates Alex Márquez and Xavi Vierge for the 22-lap Moto2 race at Motegi.
• Despite not feeling as comfortable on the bike as he did during free practice, Márquez collected 10 crucial points for 6th place in a race won by Luca Marini. A collision with another rider on lap 5 brought Vierge’s race to an early end.

Alex Márquez, 6th , +7.345 s.

• In a complicated start to the race, Márquez had several big rear end slides in the early laps, including a huge moment at the final turn on lap 2, which dropped him to 7th.
• As the first 4 riders escaped, Márquez then battled for fifth place in an exciting 5-man fight.
• Ultimately the 23-year old had no answer for Jorge Navarro. But thanks to a mature ride, the 10 points for his 6th place now sees him lead the championship by 36 points from Thomas Luthi.

“The distance to second is still good with three races to go”

“In the end the race was positive. We got some important points. We were sixth so it wasn’t a bad result. We expected much more because the warm-up was really good but we did a change from the warm-up to the race, which wasn’t perfect. Anyway we win and lose together. We need to analyse this to know where we can improve. In Australia we have to be on our A-game. I’m happy and we got good points for the championship. Yes, we lost ten points to [Thomas] Luthi but my lead is just four points less. The distance to second is still good with three races to go.”

Xavi Vierge, DNF

• After a complicated weekend, Vierge started the race brilliantly from 20th on the grid and took 8 positions on lap 1 to sit 12th.
• The 22-year old had struggled to stop his machine during free practice, but the Marc VDS team worked brilliantly on Saturday to make Vierge feel comfortable in the race.
• His race came to an unfortunate end, however. After overtaking Stefano Manzi on lap 5, Vierge then had contact with the Italian rider at turn 10, which resulted in a crash for Xavi.

“It’s a pitty, I was making a good comeback”

“I’m happy with what we did. We were struggling all weekend with the bike. Finally the team did a good job and I had a good bike for the race. I did a good start and I was making a good comeback. I overtook [Stefano] Manzi. Straight away he went inside me and pushed me out. It’s a pity. If it’s not one rider, it’s another. Again another rider has put me out of the race. But racing is like this. We have to take the positives from today. We had a very difficult weekend but the team found a solution and this is very important for the next race. I hope to start Friday without any issues.”

Joan Olive, Team Manager:

“We are in the places where we need to be”

“It’s been a more difficult Sunday than what we expected. Alex suffered a lot in the race. We need to see what problem he had. He obviously couldn’t do the pace that he had so it was obviously something we need to check and solve. Xavi was coming better in the race before he had a crash. But his feeling today was better and this is positive for Australia. We are focussed on the next race. We’ll keep doing what we are doing and we are in the places where we need to be.”