Marc Marquez stresses that Dani Pedrosa still holds a ‘number one’ position within Repsol Honda Team, despite the rookie enjoying the championship lead with just five races remaining in the 2013 campaign.

Statistically, the numbers swing notably in favour of the reigning Moto2™ World Champion. Despite this being his maiden campaign in the premier class, Marquez has out-qualified Pedrosa nine to four and out-raced his more experienced teammate in eight of the 12 GPs which they have both contested (Pedrosa missed the German Grand Prix following a crash). However, when it comes to the title race and the battle against Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, Marquez is not searching for a role reversal.

"Obviously, being in the situation I am in now, I can’t deny it: yes, we are thinking about the championship and we know we have a chance of wining it," Marquez begins. "But I maintain what I have said before. I have already done better than I expected in my first year of MotoGP™ and if we win the title then, yes it would be great, but I don’t feel any obligation to win it. Both Dani and Jorge are very strong, they are giving it 100%. For me, is an honour to be fighting against the best Jorge and the best Dani (both recovered from injuries). They are giving it their best to fight me hard. Jorge is playing his cards right in that he knows when he needs to play hard, take risks and win races."

Regarding the topic of his inter-team battle with Pedrosa, Marquez continues:

"When you are on-track, the first enemy is your teammate. We always have that competition in the garage. For me, though, it is clear that right now Dani is the number one in the team. He is the one who has to win the title and I am the rookie. That’s how I started the year and that’s how I will finish - and I have no intention of taking a different role because it’s not my moment. We’ll see what happens next year, but right now my role is to be a rookie and I am making the most of it because I don’t have responsibilities or pressure. I can ride with more freedom."

Round 14 of 18 will be this weekend’s Gran Premio Iveco de Aragón, into which Marquez heads with a championship advantage of 34 points over the tied Lorenzo and Pedrosa. A maximum of 125 points are still available over the closing five Grands Prix.