Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo set the fastest time in Friday's MotoGP free practice ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Spaniard clocked 1min 44.731sec, showing off his consistent supremacy at Motegi, riding 0.128sec ahead of Honda rider Dani Pedrosa and 0.312sec faster than Ducati man Andrea Dovizioso.

Championship leader Valentino Rossi, who is only 14 points ahead of Lorenzo, came in eighth, riding 0.823sec slower than his Yamaha teammate.

With four more races at play, including the Japan Grand Prix on Sunday, the championship can go to either of the Yamaha riders, while injured reigning champion Marc Marquez trails them at a distant third and says he has largely given up hope for defending his title.

Lorenzo said he was surprised by his stellar showing, given a shoulder injury sustained during a recent practice before coming to Japan.

"I am happy that I can be still competitive and constant," he said.

"We are lucky that the bike is working very well," he said, adding that it meant he didn't need to over exert himself.

Off the bike, however, Lorenzo was seen touching his shoulder several times between practice laps.

"Obviously my shoulder isn't perfect, but even with my shoulder in this condition I'm still able to ride and be quite consistent. For tomorrow we still have a margin to improve the bike to suit my riding," he said.

The Spaniard has a history of outperforming his rivals at Japan's Twin Ring Motegi circuit, where he won in 2014, 2013 and 2009 and finished second in 2012 and 2011.

Rossi said his team was yet to find the right bike setup, having tried various rear tyre options.

"In general, the day was not so bad. My performance wasn't so bad," he said.

"For me, we are not well-balanced with the bike."

"We have to try to make it better because Jorge is very strong. Looks like he is at 100 percent. He doesn't have a lot of problems with his shoulder, for sure. It will be very difficult to beat him. But we have to try," he added.

Struggling Marquez was seventh in the time sheet, recording 0.761sec slower than Lorenzo, but ahead of Rossi.

Marquez had to use a fat, custom-made hand grip because he cannot fully close his left hand after sustaining a broken bone last week that forced him to have a surgery.

He was riding his machine for the first time since then.

"Today it was painful, of course, but it was not so bad. I can ride well," Marquez said.

He added that defending his 2013 and 2014 title was now out of reach.

"You have to accept it. We tried and we did our best," said Marquez, who crashed out in five races this season.

"We made mistakes. We will try to avoid them in the future."

The battle in Motegi will kick off three back-to-back races in this month that will bring the riders also to Australia and Malaysia.

Source: AFP