The Championship leader was at the sharp end on Friday but Jorge Martin experienced some issues during the sessions.
Jorge Martin ended Day One at the Japanese Grand Prix in third place on the timesheets. The MotoGP Championship leader was running at the top of the order throughout the day, but he did run into issues throughout the day.
The opening MotoGP session was in mixed conditions with slight rain. However, in the afternoon in the dry conditions, Martin still did not feel 100% on his Prima Pramac Ducati.
"It was a strange day because of the weather forecast," Martin said after the Friday Practice sessions. "After the morning with the slicks and the rain drops we were suffering a bit. In the afternoon it was more complicated than expected I started quite well, but then I was having some issues with the bike.
"I was struggling a lot with the front feeling and also the rear was dropping off quite a lot. We have to work hard for, maybe not tomorrow because it seems there will be rain, but for Sunday we need to make a bigger step."
It was reported that Martin was trialling a new setup at Motegi on his Ducati GP24, something that Martin admitted was true at the end of the day. The Spaniard was searching for better braking performance but was unable to find what he was looking for.
"We didn't find what I am looking for," Martin revealed. "We are working on trying to be more competitive on braking because this year it is very important. But I wasn't feeling very good whilst cornering and in the middle of the corners. I think we will go back to the standard setup that normally works and from then we will try to work in another way."
