Japanese Grand Prix Motegi MotoGP J.1: Marc Márquez ranks fourth without taking any risks

The World Championship leader started the Japanese Grand Prix weekend with good feelings in the dry in FP1.

He preferred not to ride in the wet in FP2, a session in which Dani Pedrosa finally set the best time in the final minutes, as the track dried.

Of course, this attitude was motivated by the expected much better weather on Saturday and Sunday, which did not require, in the eyes of the Honda driver, to take the slightest risk that could compromise his championship, especially since Andrea Dovizioso, the fastest man in the morning, also stayed in his box in the afternoon.

In the end, ranked 4th, Marc Márquez only conceded 140 thousandths of a second to a Andrea Dovizioso who beat him by 2 tenths last year on the last lap of a splendid Grand Prix in the rain.

Marc Márquez : “This morning in the dry, the feeling was good, and with mixed conditions in the afternoon, we decided not to ride, even though I am normally strong in this situation. I felt competitive and strong in FP1 and was able to drive well. That said, although it's a little too early to understand where we are, I see that Dovi is going to be fast this weekend. Anyway, it doesn't matter, because we will keep the same mentality as usual and continue to work. We have to adjust many details, such as acceleration and braking stability. We have room for improvement.”

Japanese Grand Prix, Motegi, MotoGP, J.1: times

1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'45.358
2	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'45.463	0.105	0.105
3	5	johann zarco	Yamaha	1'45.483	0.125	0.020
4	93	Marc Márquez	Honda	1'45.498	0.140	0.015
5	25	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	1'45.640	0.282	0.142
6	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'46.030	0.672	0.390
7	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	1'46.210	0.852	0.180
8	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'46.265	0.907	0.055
9	46	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	1'46.329	0.971	0.064
10	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'46.526	1.168	0.197
11	26	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	1'46.568	1.210	0.042
12	45	Scott REDDING	Aprilia	1'46.854	1.496	0.286
13	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	1'46.856	1.498	0.002
14	44	Pol Espargaró	KTM	1'46.859	1.501	0.003
15	89	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	Yamaha	1'46.872	1.514	0.013
16	10	Xavier SIMEON	Ducati	1'46.998	1.640	0.126
17	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	1'47.054	1.696	0.056
18	38	Bradley SMITH	KTM	1'47.137	1.779	0.083
19	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'47.187	1.829	0.050
20	21	Frank MORBIDELLI	Honda	1'47.428	2.070	0.241
21	50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	Suzuki	1'47.537	2.179	0.109
22	81	Jordi TORRES	Ducati	1'47.665	2.307	0.128
23	17	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	1'47.716	2.358	0.051
24	55	Hafiz Syahrin	Yamaha	1'47.726	2.368	0.010
25	12	Thomas LUTHI	Honda	1'47.833	2.475	0.107
	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati