MotoGP World Championship points leader Marc Marquez said that was happy with his Friday work, as the Spaniard worked on race set-up whilst topping the opening day of free practice at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Fresh off the back of his 50th MotoGP career victory last weekend in Brno, the Spaniard arrived in Austria looking to claim victory at the only circuit on the calendar in which he is yet to claim victory at.

Topping the timing sheets from Maverick Vinales and Andrea Dovizioso, Marquez sent out a rather ominous sign to his rivals, with Sunday set up on his mind and not a time-trial run to secure a spot into Q2.

“Today like every Friday we worked a lot towards Sunday, focusing on race distance and understanding how the tyres and the setup will behave,” said the 26-year-old.

“Like in Brno and in the Sachsenring we were also working with two different frames – both were good.

“At a first look we are far ahead, but Dovizioso also has strong pace and Viñales and Quartararo are also quite close to us.

“We need to understand how the grip will change tomorrow and see what happens.”