Joan Mir scores superb second place in the Australian Grand Prix, Alex Marquez takes 7th

In ideal spring weather with sunny skies and dry track Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS riders Joan Mire and Alex Marquez contested round 17 of the Moto2 World Championship at Phillip Island.

Joan Mir made his intentions clear with the seventh fastest time in the warm-up for the 25 lap race. From 14th on the grid Mir surged into seventh place on lap three and rode a clever race to tag along with the lead group and then move into second with two laps go. Mir timed his final burst for victory almost perfectly but in a photo-finish he finished second by just 0.036s. Mir moves to fifth in the standings with 149 points.

Alex Marquez recovered from a bruising qualifying spill to complete the warm-up in second position. In the frantic opening laps Marquez could not reproduce the best feeling with his bike and after being sixth early he was bumped back to tenth. From there Marquez concentrated on a race finish and championships points to finish seventh. Marquez is sixth in the standings with 148 points.

The next Moto2 World Championship race will be held from November 2 to 4 at Sepang in Malaysia.

Joan Mir: 2nd, +0.036
“This podium is really special for me because I won the Moto3 championship here last year. And to come back to the podium after some not so good moments over the last three races I what I really wanted. I want to thank my team because they help me a lot in both the good and bad moments. Now I want to continue this form in the final two races and fight for the victory. I had strong pace all weekend by not a fast single lap which penalised me in qualifying but I knew I had something extra for the final laps of the race. Now we just need to work on qualifying.”

Alex Marquez: 7th, +3.739
“After my crash yesterday it was good to fast in the warm-up this morning. But in the race I did not feel as comfortable as in the warm-up so I focussed on keeping my rhythm and finishing the race but not just enough to be in the front group. We need to improve the feeling in the race but I’m happy to score some points after what happened in qualifying.”