Alex Márquez Maintains Strong Championship Advantage at Motegi, DNF for Xavi Vierge

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 Marquez
“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 Virege
“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.”