MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez said he was happy with his opening days work at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, on a day in which the Repsol Honda man finished third fastest, after focusing on race pace.

Back in Europe after wrapping up his eighth World Championship, Marquez is looking to take a final win of what has been maybe his most dominant season in MotoGP. The Spaniard said that he was happy with his Friday work, especially with a lot of focus on his race setup.

"I’m happy with today as we were able to accomplish a lot,” said the 26-year-old. “Today the times were really close, which can happen at a small and tight circuit like Valencia.

“Our work today was about the race, finding our pace and understanding the tyres more – a typical start to our weekend.

“Tomorrow we will have a chance to do the time attack and focus more on qualifying. We also worked on a couple of other things outside of this to be a little be more ready for the future.”

Marquez was also asked who he considers the biggest threats to him and his bid to win a twelfth race of 2019.

“Maverick [Vinales] is fast, then Fabio [Quartararo] is fast, Rins is fast. Maybe these three guys, but then we cannot forget Mir is not bad,” he said.

“But at the moment it looks like Maverick is riding in a very well."