“Too many moments” for Marquez on Day 1

World Champion sits P3 on the combined times but had to save a crash numerous times on Friday at Sepang...

2018 World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) ended Day 1 at the Shell Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in P3 on the combined timesheets, but it wasn’t a plain sailing Friday at Sepang for the seven-time Champion.

During FP2, the Spaniard once again had a ‘Marquez moment’, but it wasn’t just the one. Marquez saved an almost certain crash no less than four times during the afternoon session which, even by his standards, was a bit too much.

“It was a good day but it’s true this afternoon we struggled a lot,” began the number 93 rider. “Then we understood why we struggled so tomorrow I hope that we can manage in another way because I had too many saves, too many moments. But apart from that, we were able to be fast. It’s true that on race pace I will need to work hard because Ducati, especially Dovizioso, is on another level. So yeah, we need to work to be closer to him.”

Dovi finished just ahead of Marquez on the combined timesheets and the Italian has won here on the past two occasions. A tough ask then for the Honda rider to beat him it seems, but it’s only Friday and there’s time to fix the feeling with the front end before qualifying.

“(The) front tyre was a little bit too hard in the other runs,” said Marquez, explaining what the issue was. “But in the last run, I started to get the feeling with the medium tyre again… better, but it’s true that we still need to work better with the bike.”

With just 0.093 separating Marquez from Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in P1, and with the Repsol Honda camp knowing where the issue lies, surely we can expect to see the 25-year-old challenging for pole position come Saturday afternoon? 

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