Jorge Martin “had issues with the bike trying to do everything” in Japan MotoGP practice

MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin says Friday practice at the Japanese Grand Prix was “complicated” because he was “having some issues with the bike trying to do everything”.

The Pramac rider featured prominently on the timesheets in both sessions at Motegi on Friday, with Martin second in the damp FP1 and third overall at the end of second practice.

However, Martin says he was “struggling a lot” with the front feeling on GP24 Ducati and seemingly tyre wear as well over his long runs.

“Well, was a strange day because of the weather forecast,” he said.

“After the morning with the slicks and these rain drops was difficult.

“Then this afternoon was actually more complicated than expected.

“I started quite well but then was having some issues with the bike trying to do everything.

“I was struggling a lot with the front feeling, and also the rear was dropping a lot.

“So, we need to work quite hard for maybe not tomorrow, because it seems like it will rain. But for Sunday, we need to make a big step.”

Martin says he tried a different set-up to normal on Friday as he tried to improve braking performance at the stop-and-go Motegi layout.

But this didn’t yield the gains he’d hoped and says he will likely return to his “standard” settings for the rest of the weekend.

“I think we didn’t find what I’m looking for,” he said.

“We were working on trying to be a bit more competitive on braking because here it’s important.

“But I wasn’t feeling really good in cornering and in the middle of the corner.

“I think we will go back to a standard [setting], which is a set-up that normally works, and from that point we will try to work in another way.”

Pramac team-mate Franco Morbidelli will face Q1 in qualifying on Saturday morning after ending Friday 13th fastest.