Ben Spies hopes he will be in better physical shape for the rest of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend after illness held him back in Friday practice. The Yamaha rider was only able to complete five laps in the second session before having to pull out and seek treatment.
"What a shocking start to the weekend, I don't think I've ever been as sick as I was on the journey over here, I was nearly not allowed on the plane," said Spies. "I'm slowly getting my strength back thanks to the great guys at Clinica but didn't have enough to ride properly in the second session. I started to get tunnel vision on the straight and just felt it was too dangerous to be out there.
"I'm working with Clinica today and tomorrow and am sure things will be a bit better for qualifying and the race. I'm really sorry for my team and all the Japanese fans who came to watch today."
Spies was classified 12th after his brief outing, while his teammate Jorge Lorenzo was a low-key fifth in both sessions.
"We improved the lap time quite a lot from the morning to the afternoon session but it's still not enough, the competition is very strong here," Lorenzo admitted. "It is going to be a very difficult weekend to fight for the podium and the victory.
"We are trying some things on the bike to improve the stability on braking and into corners. We found a little but still need to find some more. We are fifth which could be worse today."