Marquez second quickest, Pedrosa eighth on Day 1 at rainy Motegi
The two free practice sessions of the Japanese Grand Prix’s opening day were characterised by steady rain and cool temperatures, but Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez showed a great pace from the beginning of the action.
Marc was fastest in the FP1 session and was pushing hard during FP2 after fitting a new rear tyre when he suffered a high-side at turn 4, causing him to miss the last minutes of the session. Nonetheless, the time he had already set was fast enough to place him second on the day, a mere 0.043” off provisional pole-setter Andrea Dovizioso.
After ending the first stint in 20th place because he was struggling with a lack of grip, Dani Pedrosa found a better rhythm in the afternoon and ultimately closed the day in eighth place, less than a second off the top.
Marc Marquez
“This morning everything was perfect and I felt very, very good on the bike. That was the case until the last exit of FP2, despite having to go back from a change to the setup that hadn’t work as well as we hoped. At the end of the session we fit a new set of tyres and I had a different feeling, less grip. I suffered a high-side, which is a bit uncommon in MotoGP now, but in the end, I’m fine. We need to check for why it happened, and we can certainly work a bit on the electronics to understand how to improve that side. Anyway, our speed was there and our lap times came out good, so our mentality will remain the same. I feel confident for the weekend.”
Dani Pedrosa
“This morning was very tough as we struggled to put heat into the tyres and I had no grip at all. In the afternoon we modified the setup, aiming to cope with these cold temperatures, and we improved a little bit but not enough yet. I’m still feeling uncomfortable on the bike due to the lack of grip. We had a softer tyre spec available, but looking at the forecast, we expect more rain to come. We preferred to continue with the tyre configuration that we think can last the race, looking to understand how to make them work better for us.”
First Practice Results
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Location Information
Located amongst the vast natural beauty of the northern Kanto district, the twin ring circuit at Motegi in Japan consists of a 1.5 mile oval and a 2.9 mile road course constructed to international standards. Built by Honda as the ultimate test facility in August 1997, the road circuit became… read more.
| Length | 4.801 kilometres / 2.983 miles |
| Width | 15 metres |
| Left corners | 6 |
| Right corners | 8 |
| Longest straight | 0.762 kilometres / 0.473 miles |
| Constructed | 1997 |
Twin Ring Motegi, Haga District, Tochigi, Japan - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m 43.198s (167.4km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2023) |
| Race Lap | 1m 45.198s (164.2km/h) Jack Miller (Ducati, 2022) |
| Race Time | 42m 21.259s (163.2km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2014) |
| 2023 Sprint Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducati) |
| 2023 Race Winner | Jorge Martin (Ducati) |
