Lorenzo: Marquez, Dovizioso have more to lose

After claiming his third MotoGP pole position in a row, Jorge Lorenzo was eager to emphasise that front row rivals Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez have more to lose in Sunday's race.

Lorenzo's reasoning is that both now have to think about the championship standings, whereas he can race unrestrained for what would be his fourth Ducati victory of the year.

After falling on the penultimate lap in Misano, Lorenzo has dropped 24-points behind team-mate Dovizioso in the battle for runner-up in the standings.

Meanwhile, Honda's Marquez is a 67-points clear and cruising towards a fifth MotoGP title.

"I think of the three I am the one who has the least to lose, especially after my mistake in Misano," said Lorenzo.

"Obviously I’m going to try to fight for the second place in the world championship. But after the crash, it gets very complicated having 24 points from Dovi.

"I think Dovi has this pressure of not making mistakes tomorrow. Marc has the pressure of the championship. So I’m going to try to fight for the win."

Lorenzo snatched his fourth pole of the season by just 0.014s from Dovizioso after a tense end to the session with many riders shuffling for a tow.

"This third pole in a row is nice because in almost one year and a half I didn’t get a pole position," he said. "It was difficult to get the most out of the soft tyres with the Ducati, but little by little we understood the way to maximise this grip.

"Finally I get these four pole positions in the year, so I'm very happy. It has not been simple. This time was very close, the lap times were very equal and to have so many riders in front waiting for [a tow] made it more difficult to remain concentrated and to push in the last lap.

"But luckily this group in front of me finally pushed in the last lap, so I had a clear way and could improve just a little bit and get this pole."

Lorenzo regretted switching from his favoured soft front tyre to a medium last time in Misano and has been running a soft front, hard rear set-up during practice at Aragon.

"I think so," he said, when asked if the soft front can go the distance in the expected heat. "It's not decided yet, the decision to use the soft front tyre, but it looks like I’m the only one with the Ducati that can use this tyre.

"I won Mugello and Montmelo with this tyre, so for the moment looks okay for my riding."

Ducati has won the last three races in a row, with Dovizioso taking victory in Brno, then Lorenzo in Austria and Dovizioso again in Misano.

Valentino Rossi, currently between Dovizioso and Lorenzo in the championship standings, will start just 18th on the grid.