Marquez yet to 'arrive at the limit', Mandalika circuit 'really fast'

On a day where unpredictable weather clouded MotoGP’ first ever visit to Mandalika, eight-time world champion Marc Marquez finished day-one of testing in 17th position. 

Despite heavy rain and an early red-flag that was deployed in order to clean the track, representative lap times began to take shape come the end of the day. 

A late flurry of improvements from most of the grid saw Marquez, who was inside the top ten for much of the day, relegated to P17 while team-mate Pol Espargaro went fastest by over four tenths. 

Should track conditions continue to improve over the weekend, then a significant imporvement regarding lap times will take place, which in-turn will see Marquez ride closer to the limit, something he chose not to do during today’s running. 

Asked where he feels strongest around the new Indonesian circuit, Marquez added: "Well, still I didn’t push enough to arrive at the limit. T1 I like it, I really like it. T3 is also a nice sector and also T4. 

"T2 I don’t like [laughs], it’s too fast. I mean it's true that you are there and you just have to go. But it is really fast and there are still some bumps in the corner. If you take a big risk you can gain a lot of time. But at the moment, we need to keep calm."

Like the Sepang test last weekend, conditions proved incredibly humid and energy-sapping, which was especially the case for Marquez who remains close, but not yet at 100% full fitness.

The Spaniard's reduced workload in the afternoon despite track conditions getting better was about ‘surviving’ the next two days. 

"I started the day with energy, I did many laps, many laps in a row to try and understand the track, the lines," said the Repsol Honda rider. 

"But then already in the afternoon I said to the team, ‘let's cool down and breath a little bit more in the box’. 

"In the afternoon the track was in a better way. We started to ride less but try bigger things because I need to survive tomorrow and Sunday."