Marc Marquez: Honda MotoGP upgrades for Barcelona will help

The Honda rider currently sits 49 points behind championship leader Valentino Rossi and has only won once in the opening six races of the season.

But following a tough weekend at Mugello, where he crashed trying to reclaim second place from Andrea Iannone, Marquez tested on the Monday and claims to have found some improvements that could close the gap to his title rivals from Barcelona.

"We did a test on Monday at Mugello and we found something that was slightly better," said Marquez.

"We have some ideas here so I feel confident for the race and we will try to do our work like in Mugello.

"We have one different exhaust and then we have some ideas and some different things inside, but we will keep that for us."

Despite the Spaniard's large points deficit, Rossi dismissed claims that the 2013 and '14 champion was out of the title fight.

"I'm worried, I think everybody is worried about the distance with Marc," said Rossi.

"It's true that 49 points is quite a lot - but if he can fix the problem with the bike from tomorrow he can recover, because he can win every Sunday."

But his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo - winner of the last three grands prix - joked that he hopes Marquez's tribulations continue.

"I hope he has a lot of problems during the season," said Lorenzo.

"For us it's perfect like that but for sure they're going to find a solution because Honda is a big factory and Marc is a splendid rider, so they will arrive."

Marquez is also aware that he cannot afford to have any more problems or make any mistakes like he did at Mugello and at Termas de Rio Hondo, where he clashed with Rossi on the penultimate lap, but says he will not be changing his approach this weekend.

"In Mugello I already said before the race maybe it's time to take a risk," he said.

"During the race I was on the limit all the time and in one moment I lost the front and I crashed, but the races are like that.

"When you're riding at 100 per cent sometimes that can happen.

"For here it is the same. Try to have a good practice and then in the race try to take a risk and go 100 per cent."