Marc Mar💎quez picked up where he 🦂left off during a private COTA test in March by leading the MotoGP field during a slippery Friday morning practice session for the inaugural event in Austin, Texas.

The Repsol Honda rookie, third on his MotoGP rac♕e debut in Qatar, led most of the 45-minute session, finishing with an adva♛ntage of just 0.253s over world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

However lap times were over fi𓄧ve-seconds slower than the best set at the Mar🌊ch test.

"It feels like the first day when we were here for testing, the track has very little 𝔉grip, so this morning I was just finding my rhythm and learning the lines again!" confirmed Marquez. "There's not much more to say! The times were slow but I think this afternoon's free practice will be better."

Marquez's team-mate Dani Pedrosa was third f𝄹astest, but some 1.6s behind the reigning Moto2 champion.

"It was very difficult to try any settings onꦰ the bike as the track conditions were not very good, there is no grip," echoed Pedrosa. "Also, it's quite windy so on the straights the wind is cooling the tyres quite a lot. I hope that the🌸 conditions will improve this afternoon with some more sun and bikes on track"