Marc Marquez provides initial feedback on shoulder after MotoGP testing return

Reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez has provided the first feedback on his fitness following his return to action at the Sepang test following a shoulder injury.

The 32-year-old suffered a complex shoulder fracture in a collision in last October’s Indonesian Grand Prix, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

He only returned to circuit riding at the start of the year, with his absence from a MotoGP bike extending to 121 days ahead of Tuesday’s opening sessions at the Sepang test.

Keeping his runs short across a total of 53 laps, Marc Marquez ended the day fastest of all by 0.256s, as he eased himself back into MotoGP bike fitness.

“Yeah, it was a tricky day in the morning, especially to get the feedback,” he said.

“I felt a bit strange, and this delayed a bit trying things, because I said to the team I needed laps for me.

“But in the afternoon, we started to try some aerodynamic things, because I started to feel more relaxed on the bike.

“It’s true that it’s also the first day, I was fresh, so this helps.

“For that reason, I pushed in the last part of the practice. Let’s see how I get up tomorrow and try and survive this test.”

He added: “When you are riding these bikes, everybody is pushing. It’s true that right now it’s not the most important thing to be on top or be far.

“But the most important thing is that the shoulder is working in a good way.

“That was my main worry. I need laps. I need to continue with my preparations for the GP, and preparation means everything: it means the technical side and the physical side.

“We are happy, the speed is there, but we need to work on the consistency.

“I mean, the most important thing, as I understood from the previous years, if I feel well physically then the speed is there.

“Today I feel like the speed was there, when you are fresh; normally in the first day you are fresher than the other days.

“But it’s true that the runs were super short, two, three laps, because I just tried to keep this shoulder fresh for the next two days.”

Alongside team-mate Pecco Bagnaia, Marquez trialled Ducati’s radical new aero package.

The Spaniard was tight-lipped on where the new package is better, but says he needs to be “patient” because of how it has changed the balance of the bike.

“Of course, you feel a big change on the aero,” he said.

“It’s true that we need to be super patient with new aerodynamics, because the bike balance changes a lot.

“It’s there where we still need to work. It will be important to decide well, because the fact that the Thai test and Thai GP are super close, we need to be super clever here with all of the things.”