Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team third quickest in Motegi Friday. Francesco Bagnaia sixteenth

• Alex Márquez tops the timesheets with the Ducati of Gresini Racing MotoGP while setting a new outright lap record of the track (1'42.811)

The Ducati Lenovo Team completed the opening day of the Grand Prix of Japan at the Mobility Resort Motegi. Marc Márquez finished Practice in third position, while Bagnaia, sixteenth, will have to tackle Q1.

Márquez, quickest in FP1, improved his lap time on several occasions during the afternoon session before finishing a full tenth adrift of today's quickest time. Bagnaia, eighth in the morning, made his way into the top ten in the middle part of Practice but was unable to bounce back during the time attack.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow at 10:10 local time (GMT +9) for Free Practice 2, which will be followed by Q1 (10:50), Q2 (11:15) and the sixteenth Sprint of the season, to be contested over a 12-lap distance from 15:00.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“We're back on the same level as Misano and, generally speaking, the races before then. This is a track that suits my riding style and I've always ridden well here. The feeling is very good and we're all very close lap-time-wise. The new track surface surely helped us go faster, because the grip level is very high, although we don't know the real limit at the moment. This can lead to not having any warning before a crash, and I think tomorrow will be difficult in qualifying because we'll have to push really hard. It'll be important to qualify on the front row or – worst-case scenario – on row two, before doing our best in the Sprint and the race.”

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 16th
“This Friday was more or less in line with most of the events so far this year. I struggle to find grip and we need to keep working in this area. We have a specific strategy to tackle this situation but, compared to Austria, where more or less everybody had grip issues and therefore the gap was smaller, I feel the difference quite a lot here. The goal is obviously to turn things around and, realistically, to be able to fight for the top ten.”