Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez said he was still looking for areas of improvement, despite breaking the circuit lap record on the opening evening of free practice for the Qatar Grand Prix.

Despite a disrupted pre-season after recovering from shoulder surgery, the Spaniard looked his usual stunning self as he topped the second session of the day, under the lights in the desert with a record 1:53.380, nearly half a second ahead of second placed Maverick Vinales.

“I am very happy today,” said the five-time MotoGP World Champion.

“I’m very confident and very comfortable with the bike. I feel that we have a lot of potential, but still we are quite well.

“In colder conditions probably we didn’t have the best set-up possible for those conditions, it was much better during the day than on the night.

“We need to understand, to improve the bike in those conditions, to be able to be more competitive. But I have the feeling we can be very competitive if we find the right setting.”

The Spaniard spent upwards of five hours a day with a physiotherapist in the off-season, with his HRC team having to limit his laps during the pre-season to ensure no further damage was done to the surgically repaired shoulder. However, with the lights on and the season officially starting, Marquez admitted he almost forgot about his injury at times.

“I feel well on the bike, I even feel better than in the test,” he said.

“In the test still in some areas the strength was not enough but now I felt better. In some areas I need to improve a little bit but now is not any problem to ride like I want.”

FP1 saw Marquez looking up at his new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who finished second fastest. Despite Lorenzo ending the evening outside the top ten, Marquez said he was impressed with how quickly Lorenzo appears to have adapted to the RC213V on just his fourth day on the bike.

“He started really good, so what that means is that he feels the bike,” said Marquez.

“When you start in FP1 already there, that means you feel the bike, you work in a good way, so he will be very fast.”