Jorge Lorenzo found an improvement with his R🌞epsol Honda after re-testing some older parts during Friday practice at the Japanese MotoGP.

The triple MotoGP champion, who has scored just two points in the last four races, declared: "Today was a positive day,♚ maybe my best practice since I returned from injury. From the beginning I felt more comfortable.

"We changed something o🍸n the bike from earlier in the season and we had a good day. I improജved my feeling and my speed."

The 🌸progress had come from combining an 𝔍older chassis with newer developments.

"We came back to the chassi𒆙s we used at the beginning of the season, but with some pieces that were put [on] th🅰rough the season and this combination creates a little better feeling," he explained.

Lorenzo was still only 17th o🐼n the timesheets, but feltꦿ his pace was better than his single-lap performance.

"I was more competitive on the pace than a fast lap," he said. "The others could take more profit from a new tyre. For example, Fabio improveᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚd by 1.5s and I improved by just 0.4-0.5s.

"In pace, I am 1-1.2s slower but over an 'explosive' lap I was 1.8s. We just need to improve and take profit from the new tyre in qualifying, but the weather looks tℱerrible for tomorrow.

"I just r൲eceived a very strange [weather warning] in Japanese on my mobile, saying tomorrow it will rai🐬n very heavily. So we'll see how the track is tomorrow and if we are able to ride..."

Team-mate Marc Marquez was third quickest, behind the Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo an♒d Maverick Vinales.