Marlboro Ducati's Valentino Rossi says he and his team are making step-by-step progress with the 2011 Desmosedici MotoGP bike and hope to continue to get closer to the front at this week's race in Barcelona.

Rossi has been part of many epic battles at the Montmelo track, none more so than with Jorge Lorenzo in 2009, but he was out of action last year with the leg he broke at Mugello.

“The Catalan Grand Prix is one of the nicest of the season, for a number of reasons: Barcelona is a beautiful city, the track is really nice—probably my second-favorite after Mugello—and finally, as is always the case at Spanish races, the grandstands are filled with enthusiastic fans," said Rossi.

" I’m really happy to return to the track, since I had to watch the race from my house last year. I’ve always been quite strong at the track, so I have many nice memories, the most recent of which is the 2009 win after a great battle with Lorenzo.

"We’re very motivated and we’re working really hard on the bike; step-by-step, we can see that we’re making progress. We know there’s still a lot of work to be done, but we need to keep trying to get closer to the front.”