Andrea Dovizioso said that today's qualifying lap time wasn’t important but the position is, with the Italian qualifying in fourth position, just 0.079 seconds off of Marquez’ MotoGP pole time.

The Italian was happy with his qualifying performance and said that it was important to qualify near the front of the grid, near Marquez and the Yamahas, especially with the race pace he believes he has.

“The lap time today in qualifying, I don’t think is important. Because everybody had a similar lap time and it was important for the position,” said Dovizioso.“We get the second row and I’m really happy about that.

“For the race I think we have a good pace. We are one of the fastest in the afternoon. But Marc is very consistent, the two Yamahas I think, are in a good situation for the race and there are also some riders with good pace. But we are there.

“The speed is there. Is important to start in front and we will see, because the consumption of the tyre will affect the race I think. So it will be important for them to see the lap time in the race to save the tyre or not.

“But overall we improve the situation this morning, because this morning yesterday we had good pace, and this morning it was very good in the last part of the track. I’m happy. I don’t know if it will be enough, but we have our card to play tomorrow.”

After being out performed by his team-mate in the previous two races, Dovizioso said he believes he needed to adapt and change his riding style to suit the GP18 more. He admitted that it’s only small things but is pleased with how he is feeling on the bike.

“I need to try to adapt to the characteristics of this season, the bike changed a little bit, there is the fairing, also there is the tyre which is a bit different,” he explained.

“It’s working on the small details, the set-up, the balance of the bike and the way I have to ride. It’s the small things everywhere. It’s what we can do and what we have to do and looks like it worked this weekend. It happened, what I expected.

“We started with a speed from the beginning and we improved during the weekend. I was bit better in these two days with how I rode the bike, but I am still not happy 100%.”