SPIELBERG: Runaway lea­der Marc Marquez was in ominous form as MotoGP returned from its month-long mid-season break, topping Friday practice in Austria.

The Spaniard is coasting towards a seventh elite title, which would draw him level with Italian legend Valentino Rossi and one shy of all-time record-holder Giacomo Agostini.

Despite turning up with five consecutive wins he knows he must do something this weekend that he has failed to achieve before in his storied career - win in Spielberg.

“I’ve been super close many years in Austria,” he said. “I lose always against red [Ducati] bikes but now I’m riding that red bike so let’s see if we can fight for that victory.”

Since joining Ducati’s factory team at the start of the season, Marquez has been almost uncatchable — notching up his fifth straight perfect weekend of sprint and race victories in Brno last month.

He goes into this 13th round of the 22-race campaign a massive 120 points clear of the pack led by his younger brother Alex of Ducati’s satellite Gresini team.

Alex is realistically destined for second behind his trailblazing brother.

The younger Marquez is 48 points clear of Francesco Bagnaia on the other Ducati factory bike, who is seeking a fourth straight Spielberg win.

Alex Marquez will have his work cut out because he must serve a long-lap penalty in Sunday’s main race after wiping out Honda’s Joan Mir in an accident last time at the Czech MotoGP.

“A bigger challenge for us will be to do a perfect weekend to lose the minimum time on the long lap on Sunday,” the 29-year-old said.

“You know, trying to be on the front row; trying to make some ground before doing the long lap, all that. So it will be a little bit of strategy.”

Marc Marquez bossed practice, topping the first session by three-tenths of a second from Bagnaia, and by two-tenths from Pedro Acosta (KTM) in the afternoon run.

Saturday’s qualifying is followed by the 14-lap sprint with the main event 24 hours later.

One rider forced to miss out on the weekend action and the next race in Hungary is Honda LCR’ Somkiat Chantra.

The Thai rider is recovering from surgery after sustaining ligament damage in his right knee in training after the Dutch MotoGP, which has already forced him out of races in Germany and Brno.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2025