Marquez reckons he's "closer than expected" to Yamaha duo

Marquez lapped 0.575s off poleman Lorenzo in the Misano qualifying and was muscled off the front row by Rossi and Suzuki's Maverick Vinales.

However, the Honda man was not at all downbeat after the session, saying that his pace this weekend has been above expectations so far.

Talking about his qualifying effort, Marquez said: "On the first tyre I felt okay, I did a good lap, but then on the second one I was in the middle of the traffic, I couldn't find the best lap.

"I slowed down, tried to find a good lap, but when I pushed in the last lap, the tyres were too cold, were not at the point to give you the extra grip.

"But in the end I'm happy, the rhythm is really good, we are much closer than we expected before we started the weekend to Yamaha riders. We will try to fight against them tomorrow."

Asked whether a top-three finish was the maximum target for him on Sunday, Marquez said: "No, it's not the maximum. If it's like today, we have a good rhythm, but we will see.

"For me the podium will be a great result, because it's one of the circuits that I had marked on the calendar where I will struggle a lot and I will lose more points than the others.

"But, okay, we're better than what we expected at the start of the weekend."

On whether he was wary of having to fight British Grand Prix winner Vinales along with the Yamahas, Marquez replied: "Again it's one more weekend where everything is very very close.

"Looks like Vinales is not so bad on the rhythm, but honestly, two Yamaha riders and Dani [Pedrosa] for me are the strongest."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont