Ducati needs 'impossible' gains to beat Marquez to '18 MotoGP crown
Jorge Lorenzo believes Ducati would need to make an "impossible" gain of "two or three tenths" for its riders to challenge Marc Marquez for the 2018 MotoGP title
Lorenzo followed team-mate Andrea Dovizioso home in a Ducati 1-2 at Brno, and the pair are the early favourites for victory this weekend as the Red Bull Ring favours the Desmosedici bike.
But Marquez's consistent form has left Dovizioso and Lorenzo 68 and 76 points adrift of the Honda rider respectively, and Lorenzo is not convinced Ducati can make enough of a step for him to overcome such a deficit in the nine remaining races.
"We still need two or three tenths of speed to be able to win four or five races in a row and recover so many points to Marc," Lorenzo said.
"For the moment still this is impossible, because the power is more or less equal for more or less all the brands, so it's difficult.
"Marc is competitive at all the tracks, he doesn't crash much at this moment.
"MotoGP is MotoGP, everything is possible, it's a dangerous sport.
"You can have an injury, you can break the engine, but for the moment the difference in points is so much and I don't see us winning five, six races in a row."
Dovizioso agreed that recovering the points to Marquez was "very, very difficult", and stressed Ducati needed to find more performance before he could think about the championship.
"Until we are really good in every area, it's really difficult to recover a lot of points to Marc," said Dovizioso. "Marc in a bad situation is [still] on the podium, so it's difficult.
"We know in MotoGP everything is possible, and the mentality is 'until the end, we will try.'"
Ducati has won both Austrian Grands Prix since the Spielberg venue's return to the calendar in 2016, with the marque benefitting from its power-sensitive layout.
But last year the battle for victory between Dovizioso and Marquez went down to the wire, and the former is convinced this weekend will not yield an easy win for Ducati.
"I expect this year the competitors are a bit stronger because everybody increases the power, the winglets and so maybe they will be closer," he said.
"Already last year Marc arrived with me [up front in the race], so I don't think it will be easy."
Danilo Petrucci, who rides a 2018-spec Ducati for satellite team Pramac, offered a similar assessment.
"It's not one of my favourite tracks. I have to enjoy the fact that Ducati here have been always fast, but I don't think we have any more advantage [than] we had, for example, in 2016," he said.
"The other manufacturers closed the gap with the engine, so we don't see always Ducati fastest with a lot of kilometres gap. We are there, more or less."
Pol Espargaro lost feeling in arms and legs after Brno MotoGP crash
Vinales: Split with MotoGP crew chief Forcada wasn't just my call
Why Honda and Yamaha have been left behind in MotoGP's new era
The once all-conquering Japanese manufacturers are going through a difficult period in MotoGP this season. With Suzuki quitting, Honda struggling to get near the podium and Yamaha only enjoying success courtesy of Fabio Quartararo, Japanese manufacturers have been left in the dust by their European counterparts. Key paddock figures explain why.
Who is Valentino Rossi’s newest MotoGP star?
Valentino Rossi’s protégés stole the show at Assen as Francesco Bagnaia stormed to victory to arrest a recent barren run. But it was the rider in second, on Bagnaia’s old bike, who had all eyes on him. Securing his and the VR46 team’s first MotoGP podium, Marco Bezzecchi has all the characteristics that made his mentor special
How Quartararo is evoking an absent MotoGP great in 2022
OPINION: Fabio Quartararo has seized control of the 2022 MotoGP world standings after another dominant victory as his nearest rivals faltered. And he is very much heading towards a second championship echoing how the dominator of the last decade achieved much of his success
The human importance of Marquez’s latest enforced MotoGP absence
OPINION: Marc Marquez will likely sit out the remainder of the 2022 MotoGP season to undergo a fourth major operation on the right arm he badly broke in 2020. It is hoped it will return him to his brilliant best after a tough start to the season without a podium to his name. But it’s the human victory that will far outweigh any future on-track success he may go on to have
Why Ducati holds all the power in its MotoGP rider dilemma
OPINION: The French Grand Prix looks to have made Ducati’s decision on its factory team line-up simpler, as Enea Bastianini stormed to his third win of the campaign and Jorge Martin crashed out for a fifth time in 2022. But, as Ducati suggests to Autosport, it remains in the strongest position in a wild rider market
The seismic aftershock left by Suzuki's decision to leave MotoGP
Suzuki's sudden decision to leave the MotoGP World Championship at the end of the season has acted as a stirring element in a market that had already erupted. Autosport analyses what this means for the grid going into 2023
How the real Ducati began to emerge in MotoGP’s Spanish GP
Ducati’s 2022 MotoGP bike has had a tough start to life and the expected early-season title charge from Francesco Bagnaia did not materialise. But the Spanish Grand Prix signalled a turning point for both the GP22 and Bagnaia, as the 2021 runner-up belatedly got his season underway after a straight fight with Fabio Quartararo
How Honda's praise for its 2022 MotoGP bike has turned into doubt
In a little over two months, Honda has gone from setting the pace in MotoGP testing with its new RC213V prototype to being at a crossroads - caused by the discrepancy in its riders' feedback. After a Portuguese GP that underwhelmed, serious questions are now being asked of Honda in 2022