Starting no higher than the third row so far this season, Danilo Petrucci is 'curious' to see what he can do from second on the grid in Sunday's French MotoGP.

Runner-up from a front row start at a dry Le Mans last year, the Italian was beaten only by title leader Marc Marquez in Saturday's wet qualifying, putting him on course to challenge for a first podium in factory Ducati colours.

"I already said on Thursday that my target was to start on the first two rows and we did a very good job," said Petrucci, who has taken 6-6-6-5 finishes so far this year.

"I'm happy to have this front row. My races have been good this year but the qualifying very very bad. So I'm very curious how the race will be tomorrow, starting for the front row…"

Despite Saturday's performance - and being known as something of a wet weather specialist - Petrucci would prefer more stable conditions for the race.

"To be honest I don’t want conditions like today for the race, because it would be very very difficult to stay up for 27 laps," he said.

"But maybe it will be like this so it could be tough. Sincerely, I prefer the dry, but we cannot decide the weather!

"The good thing is that we are fast in almost every condition, so I'm quite confident."

Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller - vying with Petrucci for the second 2020 official Ducati team seat - will complete the front row.

Petrucci's factory team-mate Andrea Dovizioso starting from fourth.