Dovizioso fears compromised race

The Italian was content with his pace until he switched to soft tyres for his final flying laps, and is now worried that he will spend race day stuck in traffic at the twisty Misano circuit.

"Unfortunately I couldn't go fast enough with the soft tyre and so my starting position is not what I wanted," said Dovizioso.

"I'm disappointed about that because it could compromise the race and it means I really have to make a good start and try to recover positions right from the beginning.

"It won't be easy as it's tricky to overtake in the first corners because you have a group of bikes all going through together. But still, I think we've been making progress with the set-up and the potential from our package is good."

He believes that he will be reasonably quick in the race if he does not get held up.

"I have a good pace with race tyres, and we improved the rhythm and reduced the gap to the front riders this afternoon which I'm pleased about," Dovizioso said. "We are six tenths behind with our race pace and quite close to Dani so I was happy about this."