Repsol Honda RC212V rider Nicky Hayden heads into the Portuguese Grand Prix aiming to keep improving following the  Spanish GP. Nicky Hayden took an excellent fourth-place finish after running with the leaders.

The Kentucky Kid spent two further days at Jerez testing components, tyres and setup options that should put him in even better shape at Estoril.Nicky Hayden set the fastest lap of the tests while evaluating Michelin rear tyres and some new clutch parts for smoother corner entries.

Estoril is a complex and tricky circuit with some dramatic contrasts – the chicane is MotoGP’s slowest corner and the kink onto the back straight is one of the fastest. Riders need a well-balanced machine that is manageable in slower turns and stable in the fast sweepers, with good top speed for the 320km/h-199mph main straight and excellent braking stability.

Nicky Hayden is the current Estoril lap record holder and also took pole position at last year’s event. Honda has won five of the eight premier-class GPs staged at the track since 2002.

Nicky Hayden

“Hopefully we’ve got things rolling now. Jerez wasn’t bad, good enough to make me look forward to Estoril where we’ll be working to keep going forward. It’s is an old-school track, it’s a strange little place, not very wide and kinda odd. It can be a lot of fun or it can be miserable. It’s got that little bus-stop chicane which is probably the slowest corner in MotoGP, but I really like the right-hand kink onto the back straightaway, that’s pretty fast and cool. And I love the last corner coming onto the front straightaway – when the bike works good and steers through there it can be pretty fun. Obviously you want something with some horsepower because the front straightaway goes on for days. And you need something to get through the tight, twisty bits. One other thing, there’s definitely a lot more right-handers, so you need softer compounds on the left side of the tyres.”