Reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez had no intention of back🎃ing off on his 25th birthday, instead putting in 97 Saturday laps in the gruelling Buriram heat.

His reward was to finish top of the timesheets after snatching the top spot from team-mate Dani Pedrosa by 0.158s with the first sub-1m 30s lap of the Chang International Circuit, in the closing stages of MotoGP's second day o💜f testing in Thailand.

"Thank you for all the birthday mesꦿsages, because I appreciate it, and you know the best way to celebrate tಌhis special day is on the bike," began Marquez.

"Today was a hard day, very warm, but we did a lot of laps, we worked very hard, because we know it's important. I want to try to find the best thꦰings. S✱till I need to do more laps tomorrow. Not more than 90, but more laps to test some things, because we still we had some parts that we didn't have time to try."

The added workload was partly due to the arrival of more Mich꧃elin tyres.

MotoGP's exclusive supplier began the test with four front and rear opt🏅ions, plus two new front compounds and one near rear. Day two then saw three more hard rear tyres and one soft, as used at the Austrian round, added to the mix. Most riders felt they were of a harder construction 𝓡than the initial allocation.

"We had ജone plan, but Michelin brought nꩵew tyres and we are trying to adapt the setup to that tyre and trying to understand well for them," Marquez said.

The Spaniard was also briefly seen on track with a new fairing (pictured). The black parts added to the Repsol livery created the now expected box shape on either side of the bike, but was&nbᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚsp;less extreme than the 'hammerhead' design he had tried at Sepang.

"It was a different 𒁃one, it was𓄧n't the same one like in Malaysia," Marquez said. "It was a different one, and I felt it was a better compromise. It was not so extreme, I felt it was a better compromise.

"Tomorrow w♑e will concentrate more to work there, because in the Qatar test, it will be the last chance to work on the aerodynamics because then from the grand prix, you need to d𝓰ecide which fairing you will use.

"The bigger fairing creates even more downforce so of course you improve☂ on the wheelie side and braking stability, but then you lose a little bit of handling, you lose some turning.

"I n✱eed to check well, because I don't want to create any doubt, and before I say something about preferring this one ♈or the other one, I want to check deeply.

"At the moment I feel more comfortable with the stand𒊎ard fairing, because I know it. But tomorrow I need to try more the other fairing."

At Sepang Marqu𝓀ez was the rider to beat for race pace and he again looked strong in that area on Saturday, but insisted it🍃s hard to read too much into it.

"Of course the pace is related to the plan that you have to try, because sometimes you go out and are one second slower because you are try🐓💫ing other things on the bike. But when I put everything there, it's good, I feel comfortable.

"I want to arrive in Qatar and see how it is. Of course, in a preseason test it's easy to make a fast lap, that's something everybody can do, because in 200 laps, one lap can ♏be the good o🌠ne.

"But the pace is important, and it's where I wa🔥s already working a lot last year, this year I'm trying to work there. We will see tomorrow if we can continue in this way. But maybe we will arrive in Qatar and I'm struggling more.

"I need to undeꦑrstand where is our limit and where is our pace at each track."

The Thailand test concludes on Sunday evening aft꧋er which only the three-day Qatar test remains before the start of the new racing season.