Marco Bezzecchi smashed the MotoGP Lap Record at Phillip Island in the afternoon MotoGP Practice session.
The Australian Grand Prix will be a difficult weekend for Marco Bezzecchi as he has a double long lap penalty after his collision with Marc Marquez at the Indonesian Grand Prix.
However, the Italian had a positive Friday at Phillip Island as he smashed the MotoGP Lap Record at the Australian circuit in the afternoon Practice session.
"It was good, I have to say that on my dash it was slower," Bezzecchi told MotoGP.com after breaking the MotoGP Lap Record at Phillip Island.
"Anyway, I was happy, and the best thing for me was that I felt good on the bike. I enjoyed the day, and my feeling has been good overall since this morning. So, it was a positive day."
Bezzecchi has been struggling with back pain since his collision at the Japanese Sprint Race with his teammate Jorge Martin. The Aprilia Racing rider was expecting to be fit by now, but is still struggling around Phillip Island.
"I have to say that I expected a bit better, especially this afternoon," he explained.
"I felt a bit of pain, you know this track has a lot of corners on the left side, so we spend a lot of time on the side trying to get the drive on the pick up, so in that area I suffer. But also under braking when I pick my body up, I suffer a bit.
"Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but I already expected it to be better."
'We will try to improve again tomorrow.'
When it was suggested that Bezzecchi could still win on Sunday, despite his double long lap penalty, the Italian insists that he must focus on Saturday before thinking about the Grand Prix.
"I don't know, let's try to think about tomorrow first," he stated.
"Because tomorrow is a normal day, we will remain focused, make a decent Qualifying, and then the Sprint. Then we will focus on Sunday and try to do our best.
"We have to fight for the front two rows because it is the key to Qualifying. Many riders are strong with the soft rear, so we will try to improve again for tomorrow."
