The Japanese Grand Prix got underway today at Twin Ring Motegi in mixed weather conditions, with a dry morning session followed by a wet and damp afternoon stint.

Marc Marquez led FP1 at length before dropping to fourth in the final minutes. Fourth-fastest was also Marc’s overall result for the day, as he decided to sit out FP2 after checking the track conditions.

Dani Pedrosa was 11th this morning in the dry before setting the fastest lap time in FP2’s mixed conditions.


Marc Marquez - 4th Combined 1'45.498 (FP1)

“This morning in the dry, the feeling was good, and with half-and-half conditions in the afternoon, we decided not to lap, even though I’m normally strong in that situation. I felt competitive and strong in FP1 and I was able to ride in a good way. That said, while it’s a bit to early to understand where we are, I saw that Dovi is going to be fast this weekend. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, as we’ll keep the same mentality as always and keep working. We need to adjust many details, such as acceleration and braking stability. We have margin for improvement.”

Dani Pedrosa - 11th Combined (1st in wet FP2) 1'46.568 (FP1) 1'48.136 (wet FP2)

“Today we struggled a bit at the beginning, and we had to work on the bike setup. We were ready to try in the afternoon, but conditions changed with the rain that fell before FP2. We weren’t sure if it was meaningful to ride on a half-and-half track, but in the end I think it was positive because we managed to improve the feeling a little bit. In the final minutes we were also able to do a few laps on slick tyres, and that will allow us to be a bit more prepared in case it rains tomorrow.”