Marquez wants to emulate Dovizioso's "smooth" riding

Reigning champion Marquez was speaking after securing victory in last weekend's Thailand race with a last-lap pass on Dovizioso, taking another step towards a fifth MotoGP title.

Both he and Dovizioso were asked about their recent spate of on-track battles and whether they felt their contrasting riding styles made their rivalry similar to that of early 1990s grand prix greats Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz.

Marquez noted that his late-braking style makes him more comparable to Schwantz, before adding that he is working on copying some aspects of Dovizioso's more Rainey-esque style.

"Of course already last year and this year we have very great battles, and it's nice because always the battles arrive until the last corner," said the Spaniard.

"Always I try to give everything until the last metre but, Dovi is always giving everything until the last metre. This is the good way, always [we] have respect [for each other].

"We have different riding styles, different bikes, and he has very strong points, I have other strong points. So this creates [a situation] that we are able to play in a good way, the way to overtake the other.

"[I'm] maybe [more like] Schwantz because I am braking more on the limit and that special braking point that everybody has in his mind.

"But my target is try to change my style, try to be like Dovi-style: smooth, lean a little bit [less] and accelerate [more]. But at the moment it's not possible."

Wayne Rainey, Yamaha, Kevin Schwantz, Suzuki

Photo by: Gold and Goose / LAT Images

Answering the same question, Dovizioso said that Marquez's style is an inevitable result of the development direction pursued by his Honda team, and that both riders respective methods would not work on each other's bikes.

"The style is one thing, and the characteristic of the bike is another story," said the Ducati rider. "Both things create this big difference, because I think his [Marquez’s] style is going same style as Honda, very agile and aggressive.

"He is able to do that, he’s the best at managing that. But also he changes a lot his style during the years in MotoGP, going that way, the bike and his style.

"My style is a bit more relaxed, but you have to ride our bike in that way. You can’t ride the Ducati like this [aggressively], I don’t think I can ride the Honda in the same way [I ride the Ducati].

"We try to study and work, try to be better where he’s better, but still there is a big difference from style and characteristic of the bike."

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team, Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / LAT Images