Marc Marquez has rejected the idea that Pedro Acosta is already out of the MotoGP championship battle. The Ducati rider arrived at the Austrian Grand Prix leading the standings on 274 points, having won the San Marino Grand Prix. Acosta, meanwhile, made the strongest possible start to the weekend by topping both practice sessions for KTM, while Marquez ended Friday in fourth place.

Asked about a potential title fight with Acosta, Marquez pointed to the remaining opportunities rather than the current points gap. The KTM rider is 65 points behind with eight races still to run. Marquez said he had been 100 points away from the lead seven races earlier, making the championship situation far from settled. He also said Acosta’s speed at the Red Bull Ring was not a surprise: KTM has been strong at the circuit before, while Acosta has repeatedly added an extra level of performance to the package. On Friday, Marquez described him as the fastest rider at the track.

Ducati still searching for the right tyre setup

Marquez won the Austrian race last year on a Ducati, but his current feeling is not yet comparable. He said the team worked hard through Friday and that both his feeling and his riding improved from the first run to the last. Even so, he does not believe Ducati is ready to fight for victory yet, although he stressed that it was only Friday and expected another step on Saturday.

Part of the difficulty comes from Michelin’s rear tyre casing. For the Red Bull Ring, Michelin brought the stiffer casing used in Thailand and Brazil earlier in the campaign, where Ducati had struggled. Marquez explained that changing the rear casing changes the character of the motorcycle, so the team must continue adapting the setup. The situation currently appears more manageable than it was in Thailand, but more difficult than at Misano. Friday’s progress from FP1 to Practice was encouraging, and further work was planned.

Marquez said his confidence is currently better on used tyres, and he is not yet feeling a performance drop. The remaining weakness is the time attack, where he continues to struggle more with this casing and has not fully understood how to secure a front-row start. He knows where he is losing time compared with last year, when he won with the same casing, and will try to make another improvement in his riding style on Saturday.