Marquez: First target is to finish in front of Dovizioso
Marc Marquez says his primary focus for the British MotoGP is to remain in front of main world title rival Andrea Dovizioso regardless of how the Silverstone race unfolds.
The Repsol Honda rider holds a 58-point lead over Dovizioso in the current riders’ world championship and claimed his 60th career pole position at Silverstone, from just 120 races, as he underlined his focus on the world title over risking his chances for the race win.
Marc Marquez says his primary focus for the British MotoGP is to remain in front of main world title rival Andrea Dovizioso regardless of how the Silverstone race unfolds.
The Repsol Honda rider holds a 58-point lead over Dovizioso in the current riders’ world championship and claimed his 60th career pole position at Silverstone, from just 120 races, as he underlined his focus on the world title over risking his chances for the race win.
As a result, Marquez says he will concentrate on Dovizioso’s race, with the Italian rider starting in seventh place, as he wants to prioritise beating the Ducati rider before targeting the outright victory.
“If we check the papers and if you check the weekend so far, Yamaha riders are riding in a very good way. They are consistent, especially Valentino, Fabio and Maverick. Then Rins in FP4 was not bad,” Marquez said.
“But Dovi, that is the guy that control is coming step by step. I think tomorrow can be there. We will see.
“Our target is try to fight for the victory, but don’t be crazy. We will try to manage in the best way for try to fight, but inside the limits. Try to finish the race. First target is finish in front of Dovi.”
Reflecting on yet another pole position having already taken the all-time record off Mick Doohan in Austria, Marquez says Silverstone’s better grip levels from the recent resurfacing has played into his and Repsol Honda’s favour having felt the British track's previous bumpy and slippy surface posed a weakness to his package.
But Marquez demonstrated his superior pace over a single lap by taking his fifth MotoGP pole position at Silverstone, only missing out in 2016 and 2018 in his premier class career, having claimed pole by the considerable margin of 0.428s over nearest rival Valentino Rossi.
“I am happy for the pole position because honestly speaking on Thursday I had some doubts about this track because last year we struggled a lot,” he said. “But since I went out on the first lap in FP1, I said, okay. This year we are there.
“This year with the new resurface we are working much better with our bike. In the qualifying practice, during the weekend we tried to work in the best way, but then on the qualifying practice time to put all in.
“First run was a really good lap time. We did a good strategy to find the good place in the track without traffic, but then in the second run, second stint, everybody was there in the end of the pits.
“Then I check on the screen and I saw that all of them in the group were behind me. No chance to push. Then I was waiting, waiting, waiting. Just push on the last lap. It was a good lap time, but the most important is coming tomorrow.”
