"I am really good and was able to test in a normal way today," explains Dovizioso, with the Italian have felt ill on Monday morning. "I am very happy with the lap times and the feeling. The wind was very calm, so we were able to do a really good lap time. I am really happy with my speed and we were really consistent all day.

"Unfortunately it was too hot to do a test with Bridgestone; we did a comparison, but it was really too hot and we stayed in the box for three hours, because the track temperature was more than 50 degrees and that is a big difference compared with the race weekends here. Anyway, I am happy with the feeling on the bike because I have struggled a lot on this track in the past – especially last year with the Ducati."

Dovizioso is now hoping to enjoy continued consistency on the final day.

"(Jorge) Lorenzo has a different pace compared to everybody else, but we are there: close to the Honda and Yamaha, so I am really happy about that," he begins to sum up. "It was too hot. Cal (Crutchlow) did almost 20 laps – not all together, but 20 laps – with what I think is the best tyre we have tried up to this point. It was fast and really consistent and I think that tyre is good. We can’t know if it will be okay for a race distance of 27 laps, but I do think the lap time was good."

In terms of lap times, Dovizioso was Tuesday’s leading Ducati in third place, while team-mate Crutchlow did not improve his time from Day 1 and finished in fifth spot.