Marquez confirms he will use 2014 chassis at Assen

The Spaniard has suffered a poor run of form in recent races, crashes at both Mugello and Catalunya leaving him down in fifth in the riders' standings, 69 points away from leader Valentino Rossi.

Marquez experimented with reverting to Honda's 2014 chassis during the rain-affected post-Catalan GP test at Barcelona, running the latest specification of engine, swingarm and exhaust, as a potential solution to his woes.

Asked about using the old frame this weekend at Assen during the riders' press conference, he said: "We tried it on Monday [in testing] after the race at Catalunya and it was good. I will use it here."

Confident of a result at Assen

Marquez also struck an upbeat note about his prospects of a good result at the Dutch circuit, where he won last year, but conceded Honda has a lot of catching up to do to get back on terms with Yamaha.

"After the last races we need a good result, but we have good confidence," he said.

"At Catalunya we crashed, but we were closer to Yamaha. Still we need to continue to work, and I need to be more constant in the races, because it's where we struggle most, especially in the second part of the race.

"But I think we are on the way and we are closer to the feeling we had in 2014."