Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) had a more difficult session in qualifying to take ninth, and Championship rival Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) starts from pole – but there was a good upside for the Borgo Panigale factory rider as he prepares for the battle ahead.
“Today wasn’t a great qualifying session for me,” admits the Championship challenger. “And that was a real pity, but this afternoon we managed to improve our pace and we’re not looking too bad for the race.”
That, however, means ‘DesmoDovi’ thinks it’s the podium that’s the target – and he needs a win.
“I think that tomorrow we’ll have a chance of fighting for the podium,” continues the Italian, “but we know it’s going to be tough as there are several riders who have good pace. Marquez is very fast, but there also were a lot of crashes and this means that even our rivals don’t have much of a margin. We have to continue to work tomorrow morning in the warm-up and ride in a smoother and less aggressive way, but in the race we will try right until the very end!”
The Ducati rider will face the #FinalShowdown at 14:00 (GMT +1) – and will be giving everything for the win.