Lorenzo rules out backing up riders to help Dovizioso

In order to clinch the title, Dovizioso has to win the race and hope Marquez finishes outside the top 11 – but the Italian's hopes took a dent during qualifying, as he could only manage ninth place while his rival took pole.

Lorenzo, meanwhile, ended up fourth fastest on the best of the Ducatis, but looked to have the pace to challenge poleman Marquez until crashing.

In 2013, Lorenzo lost the championship to a then-rookie Marquez in a final-round Valencia showdown, despite his efforts to back up the pack to try and shuffle his rival down the order.

But the Spaniard ruled out trying any such tactics on Sunday to help Dovizioso, conceding that his teammate's chances of beating Marquez to the title are slim.

"You can do things, but it's not my mentality," said Lorenzo. "We have to play right.

"If [Dovizioso] is in the first group and there are not so many riders there, and he has a chance to win, it would be the ideal thing for him, knowing that Marc can make some mistakes or have some problems.

"He needs to win for sure, and he [Marquez] needs to finish 12th or worse. It's very difficult for that to happen. It's easier that he has a failure of the engine or he crashes.

"The chances of Dovi are small, but there's always a risk and a hope in MotoGP."

Marquez needs "four eyes" in race

For his part, Marquez said he doubts that Lorenzo would repeat the tactic he employed four years ago, and was sceptical that such a strategy could pay off given he only needs to finish 11th to be certain of claiming a fourth premier-class crown.

The Honda rider, who shares the front row with Johann Zarco and Andrea Iannone, added that he would need to be ready to concede positions to his rivals when needed.

"I don't think so," he said when asked if Lorenzo could try and hold him up. "In 2013 Jorge was the fastest one here in the practice and today Dovi at the moment doesn't have the fastest pace.

"He is fast, he is better than his ninth place on the grid [suggests], but he is not the fastest one so to slow down the race to get 11 riders in front, I don't know.

"If I'm put in his situation it is so difficult, but I don't want to think about this tomorrow. It is time to keep calm to be focussed on my bike.

"Normally I race with two eyes, tomorrow I need to have four eyes, try to control also the others, try to let [a rider] pass if somebody is too aggressive."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont