“They didn’t eat!” Marco Bezzecchi rewards Aprilia with P1 in Japanese MotoGP practice

Marco Bezzecchi rebounded from two crashes in opening practice for the Japanese MotoGP to end Friday on top of the timesheets.

The Italian admitted that overconfidence played a factor in his morning falls, at Turn 11 and then Turn 5, which left him without any bikes for much of the session.

But Bezzecchi responded in style in the afternoon hour, which began with data gathering runs on both the soft and medium rear tyre.

The Misano pole sitter and Sprint winner then snatched P1 away from KTM’s Pedro Acosta on new medium-soft rubber in the final minutes of time attacks.

“I'm happy, seeing how we started the day, it's fantastic to finish in this way,” Bezzecchi told MotoGP.com.

“We made a wonderful job, especially the team, because they had to repair both bikes. Especially the first one was pretty damaged.

“So I want to say thanks to them for their amazing effort because they couldn't eat, they couldn't do anything else besides working. So a big shout out to the Aprilia guys.”

With all riders saving the preferred medium front tyre for the afternoon, Bezzecchi explained that he had been caught out in the hard braking zones on the soft.

“Let's say that the confidence was good, and maybe this is why I pushed a bit too much at the beginning, especially the first crash,” he said. “The first crash was a mistake that I could have avoided, I have to be honest.

“Because I was coming super fast already, and I brake strongly, I was maybe a bit wide, I wanted to put the bike in anyway.

“And with the soft front, that is a good tyre normally to start, but in a track like this with so many hard brakings, is not the best. So it was a mistake by me.

“And the second crash was a very, very small mistake, but we are so on the limit every time we jump on the bike.

“It was a couple of mistakes that were better to avoid, but the confidence was there. This is why I was pushing so hard. I felt good since the first time I jumped on the bike.”

Aprilia has never managed a Motegi podium, while Friday ended with only three Ducatis in the top ten - at a track they have won the past five races.

“We started in a good way also this weekend but from Friday to Saturday, normally our opponents, especially the Ducatis, make a big, big step,” Bezzecchi warned.

“I expect more normal results tomorrow, even though I hope that it can be a possibility for us to make a good Saturday.”

Team-mate Jorge Martin, second in FP1, repeated Bezzecchi’s earlier misfortune by crashing twice on his way to 13th in the afternoon.