Smith got "no excitement" from season-best qualifying

After confirmation that he will remain a full KTM race rider next season, Smith secured his best grid slot of the year so far with seventh, ahead of teammate Pol Espargaro.

The Briton admitted, however, that the fact his performance came in wet conditions meant he could not take too much pleasure from the result, highlighting the need to improve his dry-weather form.

“It’s what I’ve wanted to do all year, but for some reason haven’t been able to, not necessarily got my head around how to do it,” said Smith.

“And it’s weird. I didn’t get any excitement from doing. It’s what I should have done all year. And it’s only in the wet at the moment, I have to try and transfer this across in the dry. I’m not getting ahead of myself.”

Smith endured a more difficult time in the race, slipping to 13th on the opening lap and ending up outside the points in 17th place at the finish, six places behind Espargaro.

But despite a failure to take advantage of his grid slot, Smith maintained the weekend as a whole had been positive, and will give him a “boost” for the final three rounds of the year.

“I have to be pleased with what we did this weekend,” said Smith. “I felt competitive in all sessions, and I definitely outqualified my normal self, so I expected to go backwards a little bit [in the race].

“Just with this full wet and cold conditions, it’s still something we’re trying to figure out with our motorcycle. It’s the first time we’ve raced with water on the track like we had.

“Crashing [in warm-up] didn’t do my confidence a world of good, it meant I was too tentative at the beginning.

“But overall I’m pleased with what we did and we go into the next two flyaways with a boost from this weekend.”