Repsol Honda one-two completed by Dovizioso in practice

Andrea Dovizioso has targeted a strong result in his home GP this weekend in San Marino and the Italian got off to a good start with second place in the opening practice session.

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa set the pace and was just over six-tenths of a second faster than Dovizioso, but the 24 year-old was pleased with how the hour session went and expects to be able to close the gap on Saturday.

“I’m happy with the work done during this session and I’m satisfied to be second. Six tenths from Dani is quite a big gap but I think we have the opportunity to close this,” said Dovizioso. “At the end I was able to improve my lap times with the tyres I used for the whole session, so I’m confident we can move forward tomorrow.”

He continued: “I think everyone was struggling for grip today and it was easy to lose the front, but we found a set-up solution that was effective to help with this so we’ll continue working in that direction tomorrow. Tyre selection for the race will be very important, and both the harder and softer option Bridgestone tyres look like possible choices at the moment.”

Aiming for a fifth podium of the season, Dovizioso sized up the competition by adding: “I think there are many riders who can be strong this weekend so we have to work hard tomorrow and do a good job in qualifying.”