Marc Marquez tops warm-up ahead of MotoGP title chance, Alex “not in a position to stop him”

After feeling some title tension on Saturday, Marc Marquez settled the nerves by moving to the top of the timesheets - for the first time this weekend - during warm-up for the Japanese MotoGP at Motegi.

Like his rivals, the Ducati Lenovo star, second to team-mate Francesco Bagnaia in the Sprint, moved from the soft to medium rear tyre in preparation for this afternoon’s 24-lap grand prix.

“I slept well and I felt good in the warm-up,” said Marquez. “It looks like a bit colder temperature helps everybody to be even faster, because with the medium tyre we were riding quite good.

“But let's see. I know that the first laps in the race will not be easy. But just try to concentrate on our main target and then of course, follow our instinct as always.”

“I know that today can be an important day. But I also know that if it's not today, it can be next week," he added of the title chance. "But let's see, we will try to close today because I like Japan. I’ve celebrated three World Championships here already, so let's see if we can do it.”

Marquez finished the ten-minute session, with some dark clouds overhead, 0.356s clear of a Gresini Ducati. But it wasn’t the GP24 of Alex Marquez - Marc’s last remaining world championship rival - but rookie Fermin Aldeguer.

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi made a strong comeback after being wiped out at Turn 1 of the Sprint by team-mate Jorge Martin, missing today’s race with a broken collarbone.

"We're not in a position to stop him"

Luca Marini matched Honda team-mate Joan Mir’s Sprint result with fourth place this morning, followed by Alex Marquez.

“The front feeling is not the best this weekend, but with a small step this morning on the warm-up, I'm getting better and better,” said Alex, who will start eighth on the grid.

Turning to the championship situation, Alex said his priority is securing second ahead of Bagnaia, rather than delaying Marc’s celebrations.

“We're not in a position to stop him or to avoid him winning the title. So we need to try our best for our second place in the championship. It will be important to especially to finish the race later on, to have a good feeling for Indonesia.”

Alex finished outside of the points, in tenth, during the Sprint.

“Maybe some drops of rain”

Meanwhile, pole qualifier and Sprint winner Bagnaia had a tougher morning session with sixth place.

“This morning in warm-up, I was struggling a bit more with the grip, so I was trying to be constant and competitive,” said the Italian.

“In any case, let’s see the weather because it looks like it will be cloudy, maybe some drops of rain. Let’s see if we can fight for the top five.”

Bagnaia is now 81 points behind Alex Marquez and 20 points ahead of Bezzecchi in the world championship standings.

The Japanese MotoGP starts at 2pm local time.