Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez thinks bagging a podium at his home Aragon round tomorrow might be more difficult than it looks as he is expecting hard challenges from not only Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, but also Sunday man Valentino Rossi, and says that tyre management will be the key to victory.

Marquez demolished his own outright lap record in qualifying to take pole position but Lorenzo was only a tenth behind. In terms of pace, the two Spaniards are in the driving seat but Pedrosa is not far behind and, as Marquez says, you can never count out Rossi on any Sunday.

“This qualifying has been tricky because in the end the first plan was try to use only two tires on the rear but then I saw already the first lap time that were really fast. Then I change the plan because the team were ready and we tried to use three rear tires. With the first one did a good lap time, then with the second one a few mistakes,|” said Marquez, speaking at Aragon.

“But with the last one I tried to push more because I saw that Jorge was closer. But I tried to push in the wrong corner in the wrong way. The third right corner is always tricky point because the tyres a little bit colder than usual and I lose the front. But anyway I am happy because the rhythm is good. We did a future step from compare yesterday this morning, with the setup we improve a lot.

“I feel ready for fight for the victory. We know that Jorge is really strong. Also cannot forget Dani. He is very strong too. Tomorrow will be tricky even stay on the podium because Valentino sure will arrive in the race.

“Looks like everybody will use the same tyre. In the end we don’t know. But looks like everybody will use 33 in front, that is the medium one and the soft option on the rear. But maybe the key point will be try to manage the rear tire because if you push all the laps on the limit you can overheat a little bit and then the movement and the slide start and you must be very smooth. So we will try well but when Jorge normally start and push in the beginning you must follow him, you must push and then try to manage well in that situation. We must be really concentrate, try something on the warmup. Like I say, it looks like Jorge and Dani are really strong. My rhythm also is good for fight for the victory and Valentino, sure he will do the step tomorrow so even the podium will be hard.”