Marc Marquez says he was focused only on logging a quick time, as opposed to contending for pole position, in the wake of his Q2 crash at Valencia.
Marquez, already assured of the 2018 title, led the wet/dry pre-qualifying FP4 session, with slicks used for the first time all weekend in that brief 30-minute action.
Marquez, though, crashed just four corners into his first hot lap in Q2 and held his left shoulder, which has given him trouble through recent Grands Prix.
The Repsol Honda rider was given a lift back to the paddock, where he was quickly given the once-over by doctors, who deemed he had no dislocated the shoulder.
Marquez returned to action and posted two quick laps, the fastest of which was a 1:31.442s, good enough for fifth on the grid, just over a tenth shy of pole sitter Maverick Vinales.
“Of course it was impossible [to forget the injury] as the pain was there,” said Marquez.
“If you see I did just two laps and then on the last lap I already stopped in the [pit] box because it’s enough.
“I didn’t want the pole position, I just I wanted a time to be there in the two front rows and I think it [the lap time] was better than what I expected as the pain was there.
“The most important [thing] is I’m ready to ride the bike and the lap times were fast, now it’s important to work in a good way with the physio, not to be 100 per cent tomorrow but to be ready.”
Marquez believes the injury has been accentuated by the busy spell of action during the closing weeks of the campaign.
“I mean since Motegi the problem is that I didn’t stop,” he said.
“I rode in Phillip Island, I rode in Malaysia, the shoulder, the injury is there, it’s something you can fix only with surgery.
“Then last week training, not with the bike, I felt some strange moment and the pain up here [on the shoulder] was very strange movement, and with an injury [like] that [the pain] is always there.
“You need to stop. I will stop in December. Now I can’t.”
Marquez is to undergo surgery to address his shoulder complaint next month, following the conclusion of post-season tests in Valencia and Jerez.
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