The Repsol Honda Team riders will take part this week in the eleventh round of the World Championship, an Austrian Grand Prix to which Márquez arrives with a reinforced lead and, as Pedrosa, after taking 6 podiums in 8 races.
Marc Márquez started the second half of the World Championship in the lead, and arrives to Austria with his biggest points advantage of the season: he leads the overall standings with 154 points, 14 over the second.
The two Repsol Honda Team riders took a podium position in 6 of the last 8 races, with three victories for Márquez (at the The Americas, Germany and Czech Republic GPs) and one for Pedrosa (at the Spanish GP).
This year it will be the fourth time that the current track will hold the Austrian GP (1996, 1997, 2016 and 2017). The Repsol Honda riders Álex Crivillé and Mick Doohan won the two first editions.
Marc Márquez
“The Red Bull Ring is a circuit where we struggled quite a bit last year but hopefully this year it will be different. Brno also used to be a challenging track for us but in the end we got a fantastic result, so we’re going to Austria feeling positive. In the post-race test we were able to look into several aspects of our bike’s setup, also in view of the next race, such as getting better acceleration and reducing the wheelying. Of course we also need good stability on the brakes so we’ll see; as always, it will be a matter of finding a good compromise. We’ll do our best to get a good result and to gain important points for the Championship.”
Dani Pedrosa
“The Red Bull Ring is pretty much a new circuit, as we have only raced there once and we don’t have much experience with the track. Last year we struggled to find a good setup, but we’re looking forward to a better result this time. We had a good test on Monday in Brno after the race, so in Austria we’ll begin on Friday with a setup we know is working for us and then we’ll try to build on that, with a clear plan for every session. Again, the weather may be something to take into account so we must be ready for all conditions and focus on maintaining this good momentum.”
