Dovizioso happy with day's work

Dovizioso was ninth in the morning as he evaluated tyres, while the afternoon saw him try out a new front fork, which he was pleased with and will continue to use tomorrow as he set the fourth-fastest time.

"Today we started well and did a good job, despite the weather which was uncertain and the conditions of the track which were not optimal," explained the Italian. "This morning was wet and we tried different grooved tyres, while in the afternoon I used dry-weather rubber, even though the track still had wet spots on it.

"The second session we dedicated to try a new set of forks, which felt positive and we will continue to work on them tomorrow. In such uncertain conditions, I could do a long run of a dozen laps, and my hand is good, but we lose a little on acceleration out of the slow corners compared to other motorcycles."

JiR Team Scot technical co-ordinator Gianni Berti explained the tyre evaluation was in partnership with Michelin, looking for improvement in wet conditions: "This morning with the wet we made a series of tests with possible solutions for tyres with our partner Michelin and we were able to acquire important information that could prove useful if the race is held in the rain."