Andrea Dovizioso confident in race pace after qualifying on Indianapolis MotoGP front row

Fresh from four podiums in the last six races and with a 2013 Ducati deal looking increasingly likely, Dovizioso's strong run continued as he qualified third behind Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo at Indianapolis.

The Italian said the front row start came as a pleasant surprise, but that he was confident in his race pace.

"It was really difficult, especially at the beginning on the hard tyre because I found a lot of traffic. It's not so easy to do a good laptime because the grip is so low and you have to be really precise," said Dovizioso. "Also at the end I couldn't improve again because there was a lot of traffic.

"But I am really so happy about the front row. I didn't expect it. My team worked really hard and in a good way, so I'm really confident for the race because especially on the hard tyre we are quite fast. It's really important to start from the first row. "

He admitted that Pedrosa looked like he was a class apart this weekend.

"Tomorrow will be a really hard race. Dani has a special pace," Dovizioso said. "But we'll start there and see what can happen."