Marc Márquez may have the title within his reach from this Japanese Grand Prix in front of his bosses, Andrea Dovizioso, the latest winner, intends to be the thorn in the Spaniard's side until the last moment, but he has no illusions and thinks that the Honda driver will challenge him for victory on Sunday.
Best time in FP1, FP3 and Q2, the Italian, who occupies 2nd place in the championship with 77 points behind, stands out on paper as the big favorite of the race, even if in this area nothing is ever written in advance...
Andrea Dovizioso : “I am happy with the pole position and the feeling I had during this pole position. Here, I am also happy with the way we are working because the base was very good from the first practice session we were able to improve it again a little this afternoon and set a very good time in qualifying. Already this morning, with a 45.0, I had a very good feeling and I knew that I was able to do more or less this time. So the bike is working well and I'm very happy with what I have, but I think Marc has a very good pace. Today was the fastest. I didn't use a new tire in the afternoon but its pace is really fast. So I think we're very similar at the moment in terms of pace for the race, and I think a few other drivers have really good pace as well. So we'll see what the conditions are like tomorrow and the choice of tires, because I think almost everyone was pretty quick with the medium and the soft, so everyone has to make the right decision."
Despite his relatively modest qualification in 6th position, the Ducati rider expects to see Marc Márquez return from the first lap…
“Marc will of course try (to win on Sunday) and that’s normal because he has the margin and he can take risks as he did in the last 3 races. Unfortunately, we fought a lot during the last 4 races, but that had nothing to do with the championship: we just fought to win. And it will be the same thing tomorrow. So I think that this will not change the fight for the championship and that he will be as strong as usual, and, for sure, in the top 3 at the end of the first round. But the goal is to win the race. I don't care about his celebration because we are thinking about the championship. We want to win. We want to improve the bike and get the most out of this weekend.”
As for the strategy used, the Italian still has decisions to make…
" I don't know. We still need to study and understand tire wear, the point that will have the biggest effect on the race. It seems that here tire wear is less than in the last 2 races, so the part of strategy becomes more important. So everyone can approach the race in a different way. We still have to decide.”
MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix Q.2 standings:
Credit ranking: MotoGP.com
