Factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso said that he is delighted to have secured a front row start after struggling through the weekend under the floodlights at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

The Italian won the opening race of the season at the same track twelve months ago, but has been struggling with pace on his GP19 in Qatar through the final pre-season test and the opening day of free practice.

In spite of his struggles, Dovizioso pulled some magic out of his hate when it mattered most to secure a start in the middle of the front row, qualifying just under two tenths of a second behind pole sitter Maverick Vinales.

“We finished the test with a really bad feeling with the bike,” said the Italian.

“We wanted to try a lot of things during the test in Malaysia and here but at the end we understood it didn’t work at this track. But we wanted to study a lot in the week before the race to understand the way and it was right, but after you have to put it on the track and that’s not easy.”

“Also because every day it can be different conditions, it can be windy or cold like today so it’s not easy.

“I’m so happy in the way we worked in this practice we improved a lot our speed, and this is what you need to try to save the tyre and try to be at the top in the race.

When asked about what to expect in the race, Dovizioso said it will all come down to tyre use and who will be there in the final ten laps of the race.

“A lot of riders can be fast but to be fast and to save the tyre is a different story,” he said. “So we will see tomorrow.

“I don’t know what we can really do. The speed is there at the end of the practice we showed that, but Maverick, Marc and not only them have really good speed.

“We can’t know really the last ten laps who will be in a better shape. I don’t know what we can expect for the race.

“But I am so happy for the first row as I didn’t expect to have this speed, and I’m happy with the work we’ve done. I’m happy with how we have approached the weekend because the speed it wasn’t there. But I stayed calm, worked; we know each other very well each other and that helped a lot to be in this condition we are now.”

The Factory Ducati man said that when conditions are tricky like they were during qualifying you need to adapt and that the pace shown in qualifying shows the track is fast.

“Our bike works quite well when it’s like this,” said Dovizioso.

“Yes you have to be careful in some corners, you cant push 100% in say turn two, but if you adapt and you push in some other corners you can make a really good lap time. We did a good lap time and that means the track is fast.”