Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS riders Xavi Vierge and Alex Márquez are aiming to fight for the podium in tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix after qualifying seventh and 11th respectively in a record-breaking qualifying session.

• Scorching hot conditions greeted the 32-strong Moto2 field at the fast and undulating Red Bull Ring today, with ambient temperature soaring to 31 degrees by the time Q2 got underway.
• Both Vierge and Márquez claimed places inside the top 14 this morning in FP3 to move directly into Q2 and they put up a strong and determined challenge for the front row in the physically demanding heat and humidity.
• Round 11 of the World Championship is scheduled to start at 1220pm local time and will be run over 25-laps.

Xavi Vierge: 7th, 1:28:956, 29 laps, 125 km.

• Vierge delivered a brilliant performance to finish fourth in FP3 this morning and his best time of 1’28.986 placed him just 0.037s outside of the top three.
• Vierge carried on his impressively fast pace in a dramatic Q2 session and a hot lap of 1’28.956 was exactly one-tenth away from securing him a fourth front row start of 2019.
• The Spaniard will start from seventh on the grid and the excellent race pace he’s shown all weekend has raised expectations he can be firmly in podium contention tomorrow.

“I have the possibility to be fighting inside the top five on the last lap”

“Today was a very good day for me. We’ve worked a lot on race pace and I think we are great shape in terms of speed and consistency. That’s the most important thing and I think we are one of the best in terms of rhythm for the race. It’s a shame I’m only on the third row after Q2 but I didn’t find the correct time to push. Seventh position is not bad and I hope we are ready to fight at the front tomorrow. It will be a long race and I feel confident but after the last three races I need to be patient. I will try and make a good start and then see lap-by-lap what the pace is like. But I think if we have a clean race I have the possibility to be fighting inside the top five on the last lap.”

Alex Márquez: 11th, 1:29.012. 31 laps, 134 km.

• Márquez showed his class and speed once again in FP3 to finish in second position behind Mattia Pasini, with a personal best lap of 1’28.919.
• The World Championship leader looked set to mount a serious challenge for his third successive pole position but small mistakes on his time attack laps proved decisive.
• Márquez finished Q2 in 11th position but his lap was only 0.294s away from pole position, which was taken in style by Tetsuta Nagashima with a sensational lap of 1’28.718 setting a new all-time lap record.

“My target is to have a good fight through the pack”

“To be honest I was pushing right on the limit to be faster and I made a lot of mistakes. I didn’t make one clean lap and that was the main problem. I am sorry to my team for that because it is my fault. I think we have good pace for the race tomorrow. Making a good start will be key but I am expecting a very open race. So many riders have shown good pace and potential but my target is to have a good fight through the pack and be as close to the front as possible.”