Marquez: “Good to save myself for Sunday”

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was quickest on combined times at the end of Day 1 at the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix, but elected to sit out the second session of the day after rain affected FP2 and the quickest laptimes remained those set in FP1. Having been struggling with gastroenteritis for a couple of days and not at full strength in the morning either, Marquez is concentrating on being as fit as possible for race day – and with the quickest time, is already well on the way to heading through to Q2.

Marc Marquez (P1): “In the morning I didn’t feel very well - I’ve had gastroenteritis for the last two days - but I was able to go out and ride even though I was not at 100%. After the session and the effort I put in, I began feeling worse, because gastroenteritis also dehydrates you. Looking at the track conditions, we decided not to go out. Tomorrow we’ll try to improve and I think it has been good for me not go out there, and to instead save myself for Saturday and especially Sunday.”