“It’s really nice to get a good result and just have fun – be up there at the front battling with the boys.

On the warm-up lap I was thinking this is by far the best my machine has felt all year in any conditions and, even though I’d qualified in 13th, on the line I just remember thinking, “fight like a dog today boy!”

Then I just put it in gear and got a really good start. In fact I got such a good start that when I got to the hairpin I almost relaxed and took a breath and Edwards came back past me. I needed that start – the only choice I had was to look for a hole and do something.

My pace was pretty good but when Valentino came through he just split and I couldn’t get my pace down to do those few quick laps to stay with him. I thought for a while I might be on for something a bit special and maybe an even better result, but we’ll definitely take this one and try to build on it.

A big thanks to my team and all my guys at Repsol Honda who’ve worked really hard for me. It would have been really easy to start giving up on me and pointing the finger but they stayed and worked really hard at the tests – especially the two days after Barcelona – so thanks to them.

Thanks to Michelin too, because the tyres worked really well today. We’ve just found a little bit of an improvement with the machine – just those three or four tenths that make the difference between being at the back and being at the front. It’s not like we found two seconds a lap, but just enough so that I can push and have fun. There’s still some work to do and a lot of racing to go but we’ll just try and enjoy this one.”