Marquez: “No big drama” if I can’t win Sachsenring race

The Honda rider continued his sequence of pole positions at the German track on Saturday, leading closest rival Hector Barbera by four tenths.

Conversely, Marquez’s nearest points challenger, Jorge Lorenzo, suffered a nightmare session as he crashed twice on his way to a fourth-row grid slot.

But Marquez highlighted Valentino Rossi – who starts third – and his own teammate Dani Pedrosa as major threats in race trim, despite his single-lap pace advantage.

“I did a really good lap, but for tomorrow, Valentino is not far,” said Marquez. “Maybe on one lap, four tenths [is the difference], but for race pace we are very similar.

“Also Dani is not far on race pace, [even though] he starts from 10th position.

“Looks like tomorrow will be colder, and honestly for us it can be better because in hot conditions we struggle more with the tyres.

“We see where I can arrive. If we cannot win, it’s not a big drama, but we will try to fight minimum for the podium.”

Extra motivation

Asked to explain the gulf in performance between himself and Pedrosa, Marquez suggested that a difference in motivation was the main factor.

“Dani is not in his best moment, because when you struggle with the bike and the results never arrive it’s difficult to keep this motivation,” he said.

“I know I’m struggling more than the other seasons, maybe I’m riding more careful on the bike but at the same aggressive to be fast.

“This plus this extra motivation when you lead the championship, maybe it makes the difference.

“But in qualifying the distance was far, in FP4 it was only one millisecond. So Dani is fast, but he’s struggling a little bit this season.”