Marquez: Rear tyre drop-off could decide Aragon GP

Michelin brought two rear-tyre compound options to Motorland Aragon - the medium and the hard, both featuring an asymmetric design.

Championship leader Marquez, who topped FP1, focused on the harder compound on the first day of action and reckons rear tyre choice will be absolutely crucial.

"About the rear [tyre], I think that will be the race," Marquez said. "The front tyre, I think, will also be different options for riders, but the rear tyre will be key for the race.

"It drops a lot, after three laps, five laps, it started to drop and it started to slide a lot. It will be difficult to finish the race with a good pace.

"I concentrated more on the hard but we will need to re-check the soft rear to see."

Honda pace

Marquez was the only Honda in the top nine in first practice, but ended up finishing between two fellow Honda riders in FP2 - with Dani Pedrosa setting the pace and LCR's Cal Crutchlow making up a 1-2-3 for the Japanese marque.

Asked about Honda's FP2 showing, Marquez said: "It's difficult to understand because in the first session I was at the top, but the other two Hondas were far - but it's true that FP2 is difficult to understand.

"Some riders put new tyres in the end, some didn't, some put new hard, some put new soft. I know Dani and Cal put on the new soft rear, I put on a new hard, which is always less grip.

"It's difficult to understand but good, I'm happy to see the Hondas there at the top. But if you check the race pace, it's a little bit different."

Additional reporting by German Garcia Casanova