Marquez 12th but unflustered after tough day one

Marc Marquez ended day one at Catalunya 12th on the combined timesheets after a spill in FP2, but the Repsol Honda rider is satisfied with his race pace.

Marquez provisionally missed out on a spot in Q2 on Saturday but the reigning champion remains upbeat, even if he was struggling with the rear of his factory Honda due to an electronic issue.

“It seems like every FP2 I need to crash!" he joked.

"I was riding with used tyres, hard-hard, and maybe the tyres were not ready. But it’s also true that today I didn’t feel comfortable because we had a small electronic problem and I had some really strange slides and normally in MotoGP it is not like this,” Marquez said.

“We are missing something, but the good thing is that we have found this problem in this hour and a half [since the session]. And even with all these problems, with the race pace I am there - in the top three -  and this is the most important.”

Marquez feels the track is a little slower at Catalunya than it was in a recent test, although he says there is very little difference in overall race pace on the new asphalt.

“In the test, you are riding and trying to find the limit but then when you arrive on the race weekend it is like a completely different asphalt, but it looks like the track is a little bit slower than the test but the race pace is very similar,” he said.

“The new surface is so good. It equals everything a lot, because to find the limit is a little bit easier, but we are enjoying and now the most important thing will be to find the good rear tyre.

“The bumps from Formula One are not a problem, but you can feel them already even though it is a new surface.

"But one of the problems of this circuit is the kerbs.

"The kerbs are car kerbs and are very high on the inside and it is difficult to put the elbow and the knee down.”