Marc Marquez warmed up for his bid to secure his first MotoGP victory as a Ducati rider by ending Friday Practice for the Grand Prix of The Americas inside the top three.

The Spaniard has an exceptional record around Circuit of The Americas having scored the first of his 59 career MotoGP wins at the Texas venue in 2013, a feat he’d go on to repeat at COTA on six more occasions.

This year sees him take on COTA aboard the Gresini Racing Ducati GP23 for the first time, with many tipping the eight-time Grand Prix World Champion to potentially secure his maiden victory representing the Italian marque.

“I am happy, because we reacted in a good way. We started in FP1 riding a bit uncomfortably,  but we were riding calm and we worked hard with the team. I tried to give information to them and they understand what I need, so we start to work in a good way. 

“There are still some riders faster than us but on Saturday we will see if we’re better.

“Time attack is super difficult  because it is easy to do a mistake, but my time attack was not too bad. Qualifying Practice will be important. 

“It is true, it is always like this, one bike is not completely a disaster in all the corners, one bike is not perfect in all the corners. You just need to take the best line and take the best profits from the bikes.

“The Ducati riding style is a big difference to the Honda, but I start to understand better [how to ride it].”