Factory Yamaha's Valentino Rossi is remaining cautious about his prospects for Sunday's Mugello MotoGP race as although he was second fastest in today's opening practices, he believes the Repsol Hondas will improve tomorrow.

The Doctor reckons he needs to find another second at the Italian track to remain in front as he has been at the sharp end on Fridays before and found himself mid-pack at the end of qualifying. He also said not much had changed in the way of setup from Le Mans.

"I feel good with the bike from the beginning. It was a good practice because I can stay at the top from beginning to end and already the laptime are not so bad. I have a good feeling with the bike. We make some modify in the session and improve a bit and also at the end I try the harder tyre which is important I think for Sunday," said Rossi, speaking at Mugello.

"We are happy with the speed and the performance but is just Friday and in other races, like Le Mans, I was very strong on Friday but it looks like we suffer more on Saturday because for sure our rival improve a lot tomorrow so we have to try and improve also. We have some more modify to try tomorrow and we need just another step for stay in front and maybe find another second to stay in front as the Hondas will come strong tomorrow."