Marquez: Attack best way to defend

Marc Marquez says he won’t change his offensive strategy to defend his MotoGP world championship lead at Brno with an eye on the world title.

The Repsol Honda rider holds a 46-point lead in the riders’ standings heading into the Czech Republic round after the summer break and ended Friday practice down in 10^th place, effectively taking the final provisional spot into Q2, ahead of the final practice session which decides the top ten before qualifying.

Despite finding himself almost two-thirds of a second off pace-setting team-mate Dani Pedrosa, Marquez is unconcerned having not aimed for a fast single lap and assessing the title picture he feels he won’t need to change his approach at Brno.

“ I will attack even if I didn’t have more points and if it was closer in the championship,” Marquez said. “There are still 10 races and the mentality is the same like before, I mean to attack, why attack? Because it is the best way to defend.

“This is my style and of course I will try to be on the same riding style and strategy. Tomorrow we will try to be closer but maybe Sunday I don’t know. Dovizioso, Lorenzo or another rider that is faster than us we need to be smart and take points. If you have the chance to attack you need to do it.”

Having tested at Brno a few weeks before the Czech Republic round, Marquez concedes the hotter temperatures has not allowed for a smooth transition for this weekend but still holds confidence in his front-running pace. Marquez has pinpointed who he sees as his main rivals at Brno as he looks to improve his race pace on Saturday.

“We worked in a good way and worked more on race pace, like always trying to understand the tyres and trying to understand a few things,” he sai. “On the last run I improved the pace and the rear was not bad so it is time to concentrate and try to analyse which points we can improve.

“At the moment I think the fastest guy on the track is Dovizioso but then it is Dani, me and two or three more riders with a very similar pace.”