Marquez brushes off Dovizioso mind games

Chatting to journalists at the end of Saturday’s action at the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has claimed Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) is trying to play mind games with him ahead of race day.

The duo went toe-to-toe in a breathtaking Austrian GP encounter back in 2017 and the two have been the strongest in terms of race pace in 2019. But is the Italian trying to get into the Championship leader’s head before Sunday’s 28-lap encounter?

“Dovi knows that it can be a challenge for me, that I’ll try things that I wouldn’t try with a clear mind,” began Marquez, talking in his post-qualifying debrief. “I’m certain that if Dovi, tomorrow, is inspired and I can’t be, I will still try. If I can’t be, I’ll finish second. But it’s clear that the game is his strategy, and his strategy is to pull at the chord and see if it breaks.

“But I’m very focused in my box, on my strategy, on my mentality, and his game has no effect on me. I have my objective very clear. If it’s not possible to win this year, we’ll try again next year.”

It seems tensions are building ahead of Round 11, which sets us up for another classic Austrian GP contest. Make sure you’re in front of your TVs at 14:00 local time (GMT+2) to see if Marquez, Dovizioso or someone else can claim Red Bull Ring glory.