Dovizioso counting on wet weather

The JiR Honda rider was fastest in the extremely wet morning practice session at Donington Park today, and then took sixth in qualifying, which also took place on a wet track.

But Dovizioso said qualifying proved a tougher prospect as weather conditions had been improving during the session and his bike proved more suited to the rain.

"It's always important to start at the front in MotoGP, so first or second row is perfect," he told Italia1 television.

"This morning we went super-quick: there was a lot of water so that means we worked well.

"This afternoon conditions were very different, it was getting dry. We didn't have a perfect session, we tried lots of tyres and we didn't have a quick pace, but in the end I managed to get a good lap time."

If the weather improves tomorrow, Dovizioso fears he will be at a disadvantage unless he can perfect his dry set-up in the warm-up.

"If the race is dry but the warm-up is wet it will be a bit of a problem for us, because we weren't so quick on Friday," he said.

"We had some stuff to try out but couldn't do it today, and there won't be much of a chance tomorrow morning in the warm-up. So if it's a dry race it won't be the best thing, but we start at the front anyway and we'll go for it."