Marco Bezzecchi took two trips to the gravel in Free Practice One, but topped the timesheets in the afternoon Practice session.

The opening day of Practice at the Japanese Grand Prix was filled with positives and negatives for Marco Bezzecchi.

In Free Practice One, the Italian rider crashed twice, ended the session in 11th, and both bikes needed to be repaired before the afternoon Practice session.

However, he was able to top the timesheets in the afternoon Practice session and was full of praise for the Aprilia Racing team at the end of the day.

"I am happy, seeing how we started it is fantastic to finish this way," Bezzecchi told MotoGP.com.

"We did a wonderful job, especially the team, because they had to repair both bikes, especially the first one, as it was pretty damaged. I want to say thanks to them for their amazing effort as always."

Bezzecchi went on to discuss his two crashes in the opening session, but admitted that neither knocked his confidence heading into the afternoon session.

"The confidence was good, and maybe this is why I pushed too much at the beginning," he explained.

"The first crash was a mistake that I could have avoided. I was coming super fast already, and I braked strongly. I was a bit wide, but I wanted to turn the bike in anyway.

"The soft tyre is usually a good tyre to start with, but at a track like this with so much hard braking, it is not the best, let's say. So, that was a mistake by me.

"The second crash was a very small mistake, but we are on the limit all the time, so small differences make a big difference. There were a couple of mistakes I could have avoided, but the confidence is there; this is why I was pushing so hard.

"I felt good from the first time that I jumped on the bike, so I knew that today could be positive in the end."