Marc Marquez's first day on track as an eight-time champion ended with the Span🍰iard in third position, behind a pair of Yamahas, after Friday practice for the Japanese MotoGP.

Full of confidence as he retꦅurned to the track after clinching his latest title with a last turn victory over Fabio Quartararo in Thailand, Marquez was soon given a wake-up call from his Repsol Honda.

"It was nice to be back on the ꦗbike and I had extra confidence – but immediately on the first lap I had a small [sideways🌞] warning! So it was back to normal and today was not the best day for us, because we miss a few things," said Marquez, who feels there is work to be done for race pace.

"Especially FP2 was not the best practice of the season, but anyway we did a great job. I mean it's not the best circuit for us but we are there, now it's time to wor🌱k for the rhythm."

With the ꦉtitle pressure gone, Marquez is also using the closing rounds of this season to experi💙ment with the set-up of his RCV.

"We changed the bike balance a little and tried to understand some concepts," he said. "There were some interesting things, so thꦍis afternoon I kept going with that different geometry at this circuit.

"We worked in a good way, although it was difficult to understand the tyres an🌱d that is where we have the biggest question mark so hopefully the weather will be OK tomo🃏rrow."

However heavy rain🌃 is forecast for Saturday, followed by a dry Sunday.

Honda i🐼s presently 77 points clear of Ducati in the constructors' title and needs an adva🍌ntage of at least 75-points by the end of the Motegi race to be mathematically out of reach.