Marcos Ramirez 16th and Rory Skinner 23rd in the #CatalanGP

It wasn’t the most simple start to the weekend for Marcos as he rounded out Friday in 20th place, but the Spaniard regrouped to end the final practice session in fourth, 0.6s off P1, and secure himself a direct spot into Q2.

Putting in a 1:45.202, Marcos ended Qualifying in 18th spot to line up on the sixth row for Sunday’s race.

Marcos made a stellar start as the lights went out, gaining five places into 13th before being pushed down into 17th.

On the cusp of the top 15, Marcos fought with Zonta Van Den Goorbergh and Tony Arbolino as he edged his way forward but was unable to catch Jeremy Alcoba for the final points-scoring place as he finished the race in 16th place.

Getting to grips with the Barcelona circuit on a Moto2 bike for the first time, Rory ended Friday running in 25th place, improving lap by lap in the soaring temperatures.

The cooler conditions on Saturday played to the Scot’s favour as he improved by 1.4s to finish final practice 23rd and 0.9s off P2.

Unfortunately, his Qualifying didn’t go to plan after both his first and last flying laps were cancelled due to track limit infringements, leaving him in 25th place. A grid penalty for Borja Gomez promoted Rory up one position to 24th ahead of the race.

As the race got underway, Rory was pushed wide early on before making contact with the stricken Forward machine of Alberto Surra at Turn Five. Luckily, Rory was able to stay onboard but was dropped to the back of the pack.

Steadily making progress, Rory made his way into 25th position by the closing stages of the race before making his way past Izan Guevara and Kohta Nozane to finish in 23rd.

Marcos Ramirez #24
We had a big step from Austria to here and showed our potential in FP3. I didn’t manage to get a good lap in Qualifying which was a problem, so I had to start from 18th.
I know we have the pace because we showed it in the race. We had a few problems overtaking other riders, but the feeling was good, and the pace was there, it was probably good enough for a top 8/top 9 finish.
The position is not what we want but we have to be happy about the pace and keep going and the result will arrive.

Rory Skinner #33
It was a difficult weekend but there are obviously positives to take from some sessions. I’m constantly trying to update my riding style to suit the bike and make some changes.
This track is difficult on the Moto2 bike and such small differences make a massive difference but there are positives as I’ve been closer to the front. I’m still disappointed with the race as I seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – a bike that had broken down seemed to be right in front of me and I rear-ended it on the first lap which cost me a fair bit of time to the group ahead and I just ended up chasing my tail for the rest of the race.
It’s not where I want to be but there is only so much I can do at the minute and it’s another race weekend without any crashes and just doing more and more laps and in that respect, it’s good.