Alex Marquez makes his mark in Aragon Qualifying

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Álex Márquez thrilled a passionate home crowd at Motorland Aragon today with a stunning ride to the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 21-lap Moto2 clash.

The 20-year-old threw down the gauntlet to his rivals in spectacular fashion this morning when a brilliant lap of 1’53.340 put him over 0.2s clear of reigning World Champion Johann Zarco at the of top the final practice leaderboard.

Márquez built superbly on the confidence gained from his dazzling ride this morning to put up a strong challenge for pole position throughout a qualifying session that took part in sizzling hot conditions this afternoon.

Temperatures reached close to 30 degrees and Márquez was certainly in red-hot form on track as a lap of 1’53.261 moved him into first position.

The Spaniard seemed destined to claim a career first pole position in Moto2 when a late charge from Sam Lowes denied him by just 0.054s.

Márquez was still able to celebrate recording his second front row start in the last four races and his best ever qualifying performance in Moto2 has set him up perfectly for a podium challenge in tomorrow’s race.

Álex Márquez: 2nd – 1’53.261
“I am really happy to be back on the front row for only the second time in my Moto2 career. I made a good start to qualifying on used tyres and that gave me confidence that I could fight for pole position when I put in new rubber for the time attack. I was really happy with my lap time that put me on top of the timesheets and I was confident I could have challenged Lowes again for pole position but in the last exit I encountered a small problem with the engine. We seemed to lose power and it cost me some crucial time but I am so happy to be on the front row in front of my home crowd. Their support today was again incredible and hopefully I can reward them with my first podium in Moto2 tomorrow. There would certainly be no better place to do it than here with so much support, so I will be giving my maximum to be in the top three.”

Source: Marc VDS Racing