Alex Márquez finished the first day of practice in first place overall. The Spanish rider was in great form along with his rival Jorge Martín, who finished in second position.
The Gresini Racing MotoGP rider spoke about the recovery process leading up to the Malaysian GP which has left Alex limited, but he said that today’s result is the reward for the effort he has made in recent weeks to be in the best possible shape physically.
‘ It’s a track I like a lot, in Australia I was fast, but I still wasn’t 100% recovered. When you arrive here and from the first lap you feel good and the setup is working with your driving style, it’s much easier. This year we’re racing with the medium tire and I think the other riders will use the medium front and rear tire in the race. Ducati haven’t said anything to me about Martín or Pecco, so I have no problem interfering in their fight.
Asked how he feels most confident and strong at the Sepang circuit, Alex replied: “Everything is going very naturally, which is a good sign. We tried to change a few things that weren’t working so well, but overall we’re very comfortable. For the race the key sector is third, if we don’t lose too much time in this sector we can win the race, but in general we have to be fast everywhere, in turn 1 it’s very important to get in well to do a fast lap, but we’ll see.