Dovizioso confident of stronger Friday

The JiR Scot rider finished down in 11th position in the afternoon session after complaining about the stability of his Honda.

Despite finishing over a second off the pace, the Italian said he was not worried, as he feels he can improve easily in tomorrow's qualifying.

"The gap of three tenths to fourth is not important as many of us are all together within a second and I know that we can improve," said Dovizioso.

"We are working to improve the overall stability of the bike, which in braking and in the corners doesn't give me the confidence I'm looking for at the moment.

"We tried today a lot of tyres and made many runs but it's not so obvious at the moment which we will use for the race, which in my opinion will be run in the 1m37 bracket which I feel I can reach. This pace could make for an interesting race.

"With the MotoGP bike Assen remains one of the tracks, which are not my favourite, but today is the first day and I think that tomorrow things will be easier for us. This is another reason why I'm not worried by our position of 11th overall today."