MotoGP: Title leaders agree ‘no such thing as a Honda or Ducati track’

Both Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez were in agreement about one thing come the end of Sunday’s race – that the old notion of certain circuits suiting certain machines is now well and truly dead in the water.

That opinion comes after a series of unexpected results so far this season with bikes not believed well-suited to their tracks, including Marquez at Misano, Dovizioso’s win at Silverstone, and the duo’s epic last lap duel at the Red Bull Ring the round before.

Speaking after the race, Marquez says that while he’s traditionally stronger at some of the circuits still to come like Argon and Phillip Island, the topsy-turvy 2017 season means that it’s all still to play for for both of them.

“Honestly in Austria I expected to finish ten seconds behind Dovi, and Misano was also a difficult circuit. At Silverstone I thought he would finish further from us and he won, and we had similar pace at all three circuits to each other. What I know now is that Dovi is strong at every circuit, Ducati are strong at every circuit, and it will be a fight right to the end.

“But we also can’t forget Viñales – he’s only 16 points behind us and it looks like he has good pace, even in the wet where normally he struggles.”

And that’s an opinion that Dovizioso echoed after the race, admitting that everything is still very much to play for.

“We don’t tell people which tracks suit us because we really don’t know the answer, not because we don’t want to tell! For sure there are some tracks that I prefer and some that Marc prefers, but it’s more important how the bike works with the tyres we have in that weekend.

“It’s impossible to know for now. Marc has confirmed that he and Honda are really strong in some tracks, but we’ve also shown that in some conditions where we haven’t been fast in the past we are now, so I just hope it’s a close fight until the end!”