Andrea Dovizioso has said that it’s difficult to know what to expect ahead of tomorrow’s maiden Thai MotoGP in Buriram but reckons it could be a big scrap for the podium.

The factory Ducati man qualified on the outside of the front row in third position, but with questions of tyre life, Dovizioso doesn’t know what tomorrows 27-lap race will hold.

“It’s very difficult to know what to expect, because a lot of riders have really good pace and make a 31 low,” said the Italian, who is now second behind Marc Marquez in the World Championship.

“But like always, making a lap time is one thing, to make that lap time in an intelligent way is another story. It’s difficult to know from the TV and the details about that.

“I expect a lot of fast riders for the first half of the race. I think the two Yamahas and the two Suzukis will be there for sure, Crutchlow I think has a really good pace so I expect a big group.”

Despite the question marks over what the tyres and the rest of the front-runners will or won’t do, Dovizioso admitted he was happy with his progress and pace through the weekend.

“I’m happy because from the first practice to now we improve my feeling on the bike,” he said.

“In the beginning I didn’t feel so good, but practice-by-practice we took a small step and my feeling improve, now the speed in there.

“Yesterday we were fast but Marc [Marquez] was a bit faster. Today, maybe we have a little bit more speed, but this will not affect the race, because the race is a different story. You have to ride in a different way, you have to make 27 laps and save the tyres.

“Let’s see because nobody has raced on this track and nobody can really know how the tyres will be for 27 laps. The drop is quite big for everybody I think, but overall the feeling is better. Were on the first row, that was very important and I’m really happy with how we’ve worked over the weekend.”

Dovizioso will be the only factory Ducati on the grid tomorrow after teammate Jorge Lorenzo was ruled out with a wrist fracture. When asked if he had spoken to his teammate, Dovizioso said: “I haven’t spoke to him, I haven’t had a chance. He was unlucky with his crash, but he was also lucky because in the way he crashed, it couldn’t be much worse.

“So it’s always bad when you crash, you can get hurt and it’s one of the bad things in our sport. So I can just wish him good luck.”