Marquez ready to attack in 'Ducati-land'

The Austrian Grand Prix has a strong Ducati presence in the top four but Marc Marquez is confident of turning pole into victory.

Published : Aug 11, 2018 22:00 IST

Marc Marquez is ready to attack in "Ducati-land" on Sunday after claiming pole at the Austrian Grand Prix by two thousandths of a second.

Marquez topped the timesheets across the practice sessions with differing conditions and he continued his impressive performance with pole ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.

The championship leader clung on to top spot as Dovizioso attempted to chase down his time of one minute 23.241 seconds, the Italian coming up agonisingly short.

As well as being joined by the Ducati pair on the front row, Marquez also has Danilo Petrucci in the Ducati-powered Alma Pramac Racing to contend with in a top four dominated by the Italian manufacturer. However the Spaniard is not worried and intends to take the race to his rivals in Spielberg.

"You [look around] and see Ducati, Ducati, Ducati," he told BT Sport. "I mean we are in Ducati-land! But we are in the throne, we will try to defend well because I feel strong, the forecast is dry, so dry conditions and just attack."

Dovizioso may have got close to eclipsing Marquez on Saturday but he is unsure whether he can maintain that level in Sunday's race.

"Today was strange, it was different to yesterday," he said. "In FP4 the grip wasn't so good for us. The track improved and I'm happy, the lap time is very fast given we didn't ride a lot [in practice]. For the race I don't know, we are fast but I don't know compared to Marc and Jorge because they are really strong, but tomorrow is another day."

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