Marc Marquez says his injured left shoulder got “worse and worse” during Thursday's Sepang MotoGP pre-season test, and was forced to stop early in order to be fit for Friday's running.
Marquez made had his first outing on his Honda MotoGP bike since having surgery on a dislocated left shoulder on Wednesday, and managed to top the timesheets despite only completing 29 laps.
The world champion was able to put in 37 laps on Thursday, and was nine tenths off the pace of Yamaha's Maverick Vinales in eighth.
Marquez trialed a 'few new important things', but suffered a drop in energy in his shoulder early into his run plan and was forced to finish early in order to be fit enough to ride on the final day in Malaysia.
“Today we work again more or less in the same [way] like yesterday,” began Marquez.
“We tried a few new things, the most important ones. We start the day not bad, I feel ok, but then immediately my energy started to go down and we stop because the shoulder was getting worse and worse.
“Yesterday was ok the feeling, but today getting worse and then we stopped to be ready for tomorrow.
“But today I felt more that I need more physical training, especially on the shoulder. But we tried a few things, which was important.”
Marquez admitted after Wednesday's running he was unable to ride like he normally would, and explained further where he is having to compromise due to his shoulder.
“Normally I'm a guy in the braking point I brake late, very deep, and I am not riding like this now,” he added.
“I need to brake earlier, especially in the left corners. In the change of direction normally I'm quite aggressive, but now I need to be very smooth and try to find the time in another place.
“I start the day with a good energy, but I had to stop because I could see I was not ready. But it's better to be three, four tenths slower than your [optimal] pace and test the things.”
Discussion about this post