Newly crowned MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez said a small warning in FP1 slowed him down a little, as the Spaniard ended the opening day of free practice in Motegi in third place.
After wrapping up the 2019 crown two weeks ago in Thailand, Marquez came to Motegi with extra confidence and a freedom knowing he already had the title in the bag. The Spaniard did admit that on his very first lap a small warning did slow him down a bit, but that there were also a few things missing.
“It was nice to be back on the bike and I had extra confidence, but immediately on the first lap I had a small warning,” said the 26-year-old.
“So, it was back to normal and today was not the best day for us, because we miss a few things. FP2 was not the best practice of the season, but anyway we did a great job. It's not the best circuit for us, but we are there, now it's time to work for the rhythm."
With the goals of 2019 met, Marquez said that he wanted to use the remaining four races of the year to try and get jump started on 2020 development.
“We changed the bike balance a little and tried to understand some things," said Marquez.
"There were some interesting things, so this afternoon I kept going with that different geometry.”