Of course, Valentino Rossi will be there to play spoilsport and get the most out of his suddenly reinvigorated Yamaha M1, but the two championship leaders, Márquez and Andrea Dovizioso, seemed to have already been assessing each other on the track and watching each other during the post-qualifying press conference.
Here is what they said about their chances in the race tomorrow... and those of their opponents.
Marc Márquez : “of course, I'm happy with how the day ended. But honestly, this morning we were very unlucky because when I put the new tire on to do a lap time, we had a little problem on the bike. I then returned but we did not have time to change the front tire. I left with the 2nd bike but it wasn't the settings I liked and the hard front tire had more than 20 turns. I lost the front and crashed. This is the risk if your strategy is to prepare well for the race: you only have one chance to progress to Q2.
But then in the afternoon we managed well, we were able to be competitive in FP4 with the worn tire. I even drove very well in Q1 whereas in Q2 I perhaps pushed too much and made a few mistakes. I missed a few rope points, and no, I didn't do a perfect lap, but even so I was able to get pole. I'm happy because the front row was my main goal today.
Honestly, I think everyone is going to choose the hard rear tire tomorrow. Here, the life of the tire is important, it's very hot and I think everyone will take it hard. On paper, Dovizioso would appear very, very strong. It seems he is the fastest. We are extremely close. And the 2 Yamahas were also very fast in FP4. They have been able to run small 31 consistently, so it will be tough. The last 10 laps will be crucial because there is a bit of degradation on the rear tire, but apart from that I am happy with the way we are working with the team.
Andrea Dovizioso : “Sectors 3 and 4 are not very problematic but I am happy because between the first session and now, we have improved my feeling on the bike. At the beginning, I didn't feel so comfortable, but session after session we took small steps forward and my feeling improved. Now the speed is there. Yesterday we were fast, but not really because Marc was a little faster. Today we may have a little bit more speed but it won't affect the race because the race is a different story: you have to drive in a different way, you have to do 27 laps and save the tires. We'll see: as no one has ever raced this race, no one really knows how the tires will behave over 27 laps. I think the degradation will be quite significant for everyone. It's very difficult to say! A lot of drivers have a very good pace, a lot of drivers are able to do small 31s. But as always, setting a time is one thing, and setting a time in an intelligent way is a different story. And hard to see these details on such or in a newspaper but I definitely expect there to be a lot of fast riders during the first half of the race. I think for sure the 2 Yamahas and the 2 Suzukis will be there, and I think Crutchlow will have good pace. So I'm expecting a big group. But above all, the feeling is better and we got the first row, which is very important. So I’m very happy with the way we worked over the weekend.”
MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix Qualifying classification:
Credit ranking: MotoGP.com
