A combative performance from the Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider who battles to secure a third consecutive top-seven result, but Xavi Vierge suffers more misfortune, crashing out at turn one.

• Blue skies and beautiful sun greeted the riders for the 18-lap Moto2 race, after thunderstorms disrupted Saturday’s action.
• After taking an early lead, Alex Márquez struggled to maintain his pace in the second half of the race. But he fought off a determined Luca Marini and Sam Lowes on the final lap to claim 11 important points for fifth.
• Xavi Vierge’s bad run of luck continued when he was taken out by an errant rider at the first corner of the first lap.

Alex Márquez: 5th, +7.741

• Márquez stormed into an early lead after qualifying an excellent second.
• The former Moto3 World Champion led the race for eight laps, before eventual race winner Thomas Luthi passed him on lap eight.
• The 23-year old admitted to making some mistakes and he lost rear grip with eight laps to go. He dropped to sixth at one point, but recovered well to pass Luca Marini for fifth on lap 17. 
• Márquez now sits fifth in the world championship table with 36 points, 14 behind leader Lorenzo Baldassarri.

“It's not the best result but we got really important points for the championship”

“I started well. I had a good start, a good first lap and I was feeling good on the bike. During the first eight laps I was really constant and really good. But then I started to make a lot of mistakes. With eight laps to go I started losing a bit of rear contact. It's not the best results but we got really important points for the championship. We need to keep growing like this. Due to my mistakes I’m not happy with my performance during this race but I’m really happy with the performance of the team. We had a really good weekend. We didn’t get many laps on track so I’m happy. Now I’m looking forward to Jerez.”

Xavi Vierge: DNF

• Vierge had qualified in 20th after a complicated qualifying session where he arrived having only ridden during the FP1 as he had an early crash in FP2.
• The 21-year old showed strong top ten potential in morning warm-up, ending the session with the 9th fastest time.
• Vierge was struck by an out of control Fabio Di Giannantonio at the tricky first corner, which took him and Joe Roberts down.

“I tried to avoid him by going wide but his bike hit me and I crashed”

“It was a difficult weekend for us. We started with a good feeling in FP1 but in FP2 I started with a new setting and on the second lap I crashed. Then on Saturday FP3 was cancelled and I had to go into Q1. Our bike wasn’t in a good position. I tried my best but I wasn’t able to get into Q2. It was a pity because I started from P20. We started in that position, but in warm-up we made a step forward. My feeling was really good. But then at the start Di Giannantonio and another rider made an impact. I tried to avoid him by going wide but his bike hit me and I crashed. It’s a pity. But, as we’ve seen in other years it’s really difficult to make it through the first corner when you start from behind. Anyway, the work the team had done through the weekend was really good. I was able to go faster. Now in the European races I hope I can finish and we can start to enjoy the races because we have the speed.”

Joan Olivé, Team Manager

“Now we are closer to the leading positions of the world championship”

“We have to be positive. There's no doubt that we would have liked to have finished on the podium but now we are closer to the leading positions of the world championship. We have shown speed and we only need to improve in the second half of the race where, in this case, Alex was was not able to give his 100%, because he was not comfortable in the final stage. We will work on this aspect to arrive at Jerez even more prepared. In the case of Xavi, it has been a pity. This morning he did a good warm up, with good pace and much better feelings. But any possibility of a fight disappeared with the incident at the first corner. We have to keep working, keep positive and sure that good results will come.