MotoGP World Championship leader Marc Marquez has said that his Repsol Honda team stopped him from going out on slick tyres earlier in the damp FP4 session than he did at the Circuit of the Americas, instructing the World Champion there was no need to take the risk.

The Spaniard secured his seventh pole position in a row around the Texas circuit later on in the day, but after having FP3 rained off, Marquez was eager to get some track time in when the flag dropped for FP4. Despite realising almost immediately himself that the track was dry enough for slick tyres, Marquez said his team held him back.

“Today was a strange day, said the 26-year old.

“In FP4 I went out with rain tyres but immediately I saw that it was for a slick, but my team was stopping me a little bit as there was no need to take the risk.

“It was important laps, but suddenly I feel really good on the rack track, on the lines, on the grip.

“Then in quali, on the first tyre I feel good, then on the second tyre I did too many mistakes, I went wide, but even like this the lap was not so bad. Apart from that, tomorrow will be important to work hard in the warm up because we have a few problems that we will try to fix to try and have a constant race pace.”

With FP3 cancelled due to lightning storms earlier in the day and over half of FP4 rendered useless with bikes running on wet tyres, Marquez said morning warm up becomes even more important to know what rear Michelin tyre to use for the afternoons twenty-lap race.

“Front tyre, more or less everyone will run with the same, but especially the rear tyre,” he explained. “I did FP2 with a hard rear and I felt good. I did FP1 with a medium, with a soft also, it has very good potential in the initial grip but we need to understand tomorrow in the warm up and we need to see if it’s better with the medium or the hard.

“We will concentrate and try to analyse the grip and the temperature and a little bit the way to ride the race.”

Lots of riders have voiced their concerns about the bumpy nature of the circuit and with high winds today, Marquez was seen being thrown around his RC213V more than usual, when asked if this was having an affect on the left shoulder he had operated on in the off-season, he said: “Yes, I would be lying if I said no.

“But I am happy that I arrive at a good level with my shoulder. On the racetrack I feel it, especially on the shaking. On the change of direction, its’ not so bad, the power is there, but on the shaking I feel a little bit, in Argentina I forgot completely but here I come back wit the physio and the ice.

“But luckily for me FP3 we didn’t ride, so I will be fit for tomorrow.”