Marquez: No pressure, mentality the same

Marc Marquez is looking to conclude his fifth MotoGP title-winning season with a tenth victory in this weekend’s Valencia finale.

After claiming the riders’ crown with three rounds to spare, Marquez handed Honda the constructors’ title with a win last time at Sepang.

Now only the teams’ title remains to complete the ‘triple crown’ and, with Repsol Honda holding a 39-point lead over Movistar Yamaha and a maximum of 45 points available, it’s very much HRC’s to lose.

“It was great to celebrate the title a few days ago in my hometown with my family, people and fan club, and now I’m looking forward to celebrating it with all the fans in Valencia,” said Marquez, who faced a final round showdown with Andrea Dovizioso for the 2017 title.

“Of course we won’t have the pressure we had last year, when the title was still at stake, but our mentality will be exactly the same because we want to finish the year in a good way.

“Now we’re very, very close to achieving the Team Championship, and we’ll try our best to get it so as to complete the Triple Crown, which is important for us and for Honda, and which would be the perfect end to this season.

“I don’t want to lose the momentum or the way I’m riding at the moment, so I’ll try and focus like always for the entire weekend, and to fight for the win on Sunday.”

Valencia will also be the final race for Marquez’s team-mate Dani Pedrosa with Jorge Lorenzo making his Repsol Honda debut in next week’s post-race test.