MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin says Friday practice at the J🐻apanese Grand Prix was “complicated” because he was “having some issues with the bike trying to do everything”.

The Pramac rider featured prominently on the 💞timesheets in both sessions at Motegi on Friday, with Martin second in the damp FP1 and third overall at the end of second practice.

However, Martin says he was “꧅struggling a lot” with the front feeling on GP24 Ducati and seemingly tyr🌠e wear as well over his long runs.

“Well, 🧜was a strange day because of the 🌠weather forecast,” he said.

“After the morning with the🌄 slicks and these𝕴 rain drops was difficult.

“Th🔥en♒ this afternoon was actually more complicated than expected.

“I s🌞tarted quite well but then was having some issues with the bike tryin♔g to do everything.

“I was struggling a lot with the front feeling, and also the rear was dropping🎀 a lot.

“So, we nee🍎d to work quite hard for maybe not tomorrow, because i♈t seems like it will rain. But for Sunday, we need to make a big step.”

Martin says he tried a different set-up to norma💮l on Friday as he tried to improveꦦ braking performance at the stop-and-go Motegi layout.

But this didn’t yield the gains he’d h🤡oped and says he will likely rꩵeturn to his “standard” settings for the rest of the weekend.

“I think ♛we didn’t find what I’m looking for♌,” he said.

“We were working🃏 on trying to be a 🌊bit more competitive on braking because here it’s important.

“But I wasn’༒t feeling really good ꩲin cornering and in the middle of the corner.

“I think we will go back to a standard [setting], which is a set-up that normally works, and from that point we will try to work in an💫other way.”

Pramac team-mate Franco Morbidelli willಞ face Q1 in qualifying on Saturday morning after ending Friday 13th fastest.