 He was joined alongside Spanish rider Esteve Rabat for a fourth season at Marc VDS.His quest for the title began well, as he recovered from a nasty crash in Qualifying, to finish in third place at Qatar, but was later promoted to second, after Nakagami's bike was disqualified on technical grounds.Two solid points scoring races followed, before scoring his first pole position and race win of the season, at Circuito de Jerez, leading from start to finish.