Valentino Rossi is seeking improvement as the Aragon MotoGP race weekend continues tomorrow, after an ‘ok’ opening day.

“The feeling is not so bad, I can ride quite strong. For sure we have to work a lot but it looks like we are not so bad, especially with the new tyres,” he said

"We are quite fast but we suffer a bit after some laps because we stress a bit too much the tyres and we lose some grip and performance. So this is the main target,”

The Movistar Yamaha rider finished today’s second free practice session in fourth position, and was the highest placed non-Honda rider behind Repsol boys Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez who  locked-out the top three with LCR's Cal Crutchlow.

And he feels the Hondas are going to be hard to beat over race distance. “We have to work, we have to try to improve because for the race pace the Hondas are very strong.

"Not about the top lap, but after some laps they are able to keep the pace and it looks like they stress a bit less the tyres. So if we want to try and fight with them we have to improve from this point of view.”

Rossi says he is happy with how his M1 is shaping up so far, but says they need to find something extra if he’s to stand any hope of taking the fight to the Honda boys come race day.

"About the feeling with the bike and the first day, it was ok. I'm not so bad in the splits, I'm always in the top three or four, so we don't have any particular weak point. We’re not so bad everywhere

"But like I said, it looks like after some laps the Hondas, especially the two factory Hondas and Crutchlow, have good pace. And it looks like they are able to stay strong. So we need to improve."