MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez described his Friday at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi as “strange,” attributing the unusual session to making bike set-up adjustments too early instead of focusing on his riding. Marquez, aiming to outscore his title rival Alex Marquez by just three points this round to secure the world championship, faced challenges during the afternoon practice despite eventually securing third place and progressing to Q2.
Marc Marquez’s Difficult Start at Motegi Practice
Marc Marquez began Friday’s practice with a decent feeling during FP1, but as the day progressed, his performance became inconsistent. He experimented with several different bike set-up changes, which seemed to disrupt his usual rhythm and made adapting to the track conditions more difficult. These early changes prevented him from maintaining focus on refining his riding style.
“Strange session, strange day,” Marquez admitted.
“We started FP1 with a not so bad feeling, but it’s true that we did some mistakes in Practice in the afternoon.”
He explained how the combination of bike adjustments and track changes created challenges:
“The feeling changed quite a lot with the bike and the track, and then everything became more difficult.”
Despite the setbacks, Marquez remained optimistic about improving both bike settings and his riding approach on Saturday.
“But apart from that, let’s see if tomorrow we can improve my riding style and also a bit the bike. But, with the bike, we are inside [Q2].”
Setting Up the Bike Too Early Was a Misstep
Marquez pointed to the timing of bike changes as the main issue affecting his Friday session.
“Our problem was that we started to try different set-ups too early. And it’s better sometimes to concentrate on my riding style and that’s it.”
He described the engineers’ support as helpful but acknowledged he might have pushed too hard to address the problems.
“But like always, in FP1 I had some problems and the engineers tried to help me. Maybe also I was pushing too much for those problems. But let’s see if tomorrow we can improve.”
Reflecting on his session’s outcome, Marquez said,
“The most important thing is to find the way. We are not in the last practice. Still we have all of Saturday in front to keep improving. But it looks like a bad day, but we are third. So, not bad.”
Race Pace and Qualifying Concerns for Marc Marquez
Throughout most of the practice, Marquez’s rankings fluctuated around 10th to 15th, which he noted was unusual for him, but he improved on his final time attack.
“On the last time attack [I improved],”
he commented.
He also analyzed other riders’ strategies, observing that some competitors switched to a soft rear tire earlier in the session.
“But we also understood some riders put the soft rear in quite early. But apart from that, we need to improve. This will be the main target for tomorrow, trying to improve the race pace.”
Title Rival Alex Marquez Faces Qualifying Challenges
Marc Marquez’s younger brother and only remaining championship challenger, Alex Marquez, struggled more on Friday with his Gresini Ducati, missing direct entry into Q2 and having to participate in Q1 on Saturday morning. Despite this setback, Marc expressed confidence that Alex would still advance.
“As I said, it was a strange day, and it’s not normal that Alex is out in Q1,”
Marc said.
“Also there were a lot of yellow flags in the end, and let’s see. I expect tomorrow he will have enough speed to jump to Q2.”
He added,
“But we are only on Friday, so quiet, no stress. I want the best for my brother, so I hope he jumps to Q2.”
Looking Ahead to Saturday’s Sessions
With Friday’s practice behind them, both Marquez brothers will focus on improving their setups and pace during Saturday’s sessions. For Marc Marquez, correcting the timing of bike adjustments and concentrating on his riding style will be key to maintaining his championship lead. Meanwhile, Alex Marquez aims to recover from a difficult day and secure a position in Q2 to keep his title hopes alive.
The outcome of the weekend will be decisive for the 2025 MotoGP world championship, as Marc Marquez remains on the cusp of clinching the title at the Japanese round, with the tight points gap adding intensity to the battle at Motegi.
