Marc Marquez remains cautious of a strong second half to the 2018 MotoGP season for Ducati, despite holding a 61-point advantage over top Bologna runner Andrea Dovizioso in fifth in the standings.
Marquez – who sits 41 points clear of second-placed Valentino Rossi [Yamaha] – pegged his championship combatant from last season Dovizioso as his main rival ahead of the 2018 campaign, but a run of three crashes from four races from Spain to Barcelona saw the Italian's charge take a battering.
Four wins – including last weekend's Dutch TT – from the first eight races have allowed Marquez to open up a 61-point gap on Dovizioso, while back-to-back wins for a resurgent Jorge Lorenzo at Mugello and Barcelona have put him a further four adrift in seventh.
Marquez remains confident the Honda can challenge throughout the remainder of the season, having been strong at track he has struggled at previously, but knows the Ducati is similarly “working well” this year.
“Of course since the second part fo last year, the Ducati is strong everywhere,” said Marquez.
“In Valencia last year, there they were very strong, there they were in the top group.
“The Ducati is working well now, but the most important thing is just our worst result this year is a second place, and the tracks where we struggle we are there.
“But Ducati will be very strong in the second part of the season because there are some race tracks where they are very fast.
“But at the moment, Andrea is 61 points behind me so we will try to manage [the gap] in a good way.”
Dovizioso: Important for Ducati to fight for Assen win
Dovizioso admits he was disappointed with his Assen race, after crossing the line fifth when his “minimum” target was a rostrum spot.
Blaming a “completely finished” rear tyre late on for dropping out of podium contention, Dovizioso says the fact he was able to fight for victory at Assen was “very important” for Ducati, who has only ever won once at the Dutch venue in 2008.
“I'm not too happy because the minimum was the podium, but the last eight laps, when I was leading, I finished completely the rear and I couldn't make a good laptime.
“That was the negative point of the weekend. I'm not happy 100 percent about that, but apart from that, to fight almost for the victory in Assen for me is something very important and I think I did everything in the right way.
“I didn't have the speed in the last 10 laps, and I was able to fight for the podium, so this is good.
“The negative point was that we didn't have power at the end to make our rhythm and try to fight with Marc. That is the bad point, but it's ok.”
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