Sepang MotoGP test day one pacesetter Marc Marquez says he “expected to be better” physically during Wednesday's running, as the Honda rider struggled for endurance on his left shoulder.
Marquez underwent an operation on a dislocated left shoulder in December, and only had his first motorcycle outing last week before coming to Sepang to top the opening day of pre-season testing by 0.259 seconds.
However, Marquez only completed 29 laps and struggled to string together a run longer than handful of laps due to a lack of “power” in his recovering shoulder.
“Today I'm very very happy, because I ride the bike again, and it was a long winter for me,” he said.
“But on the other hand I expected to be better than what I am. I mean, I'm riding but still I need to remind [myself] there's a lot of work to do because still I don't have power [in the shoulder].
“One or two laps is ok, but to be there all the the time constantly is very difficult.
“For that reason we stop very early today, but still remain two days and we'll see then what the feeling is. But today, happy to be back on the bike.”
Marquez set his best time on the all-black development RC213V, on which he tried “many new things”.
However, he says the list of things to test is “very big”, and admits his current physical conditions means there is “not enough time” to try everything before the season begins in Qatar on March 10.
“Of course we are trying many new things on the bike and many new parts, but also it's some kind of training for me for my physical condition,” he added.
“”I'm fit, but still the muscles are not there and I feel this in my riding style. I'm riding in a different way today, but let's see tomorrow if I get up better or worse and keep the same plan, or try to do more laps.
“Honda worked really hard this winter time. Today we tried a few things, but the list is very big.
“I will not have enough time to try everything because I will not do many laps. They work very hard, we will try the most important things to be ready in Qatar.”
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