Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden made a good start to his Japanese GP weekend at Motegi today. The American topped this morning’s wet opening session and placed seventh in the tightly packed dry afternoon outing, just three hundredths of a second off fourth place.

Coming to Motegi from his superb second-place finish at hurricane-lashed Indy, Hayden rode brilliantly in the rain, using the latest Michelin rain tyres to end the session ahead of Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner. Following the dry session Hayden plans to work on machine balance to improve performance around this stop-and-go racetrack.

Nicky Hayden, 7th fastest, 1′48.800

“This year, it wouldn’t be a GP weekend without a little bit of rain. Things felt awesome this morning. The bike set-up was quite similar to what we had at Indy, so the bike, the tyres, everything was working really good. I was quite fast, but it looks like the weather is going to clear up for the rest of the weekend. This afternoon things weren’t quite as great. The track looked a little patchy, so I just did one lap on intermediates when we went to slicks, the track came in quite quick. The bike felt okay in the dry but not great, though with just a few more tenths I would be quite a lot higher up the order. This track I sometimes struggle a bit in the dry. I’m close on all the splits but I’ve definitely got some work to do. I wasn’t completely happy with the set-up, the balance felt wrong, the way it was pitching back and forth into and out of the corners. I’ll try to give my guys some good information, so hopefully they can help me out and make it a bit easier tomorrow.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“Nicky had a good first day, both morning and afternoon sessions. He is still feeling a little bit of pain from his broken right heel, but after his excellent result at Indy he is very motivated to score another good result here in Japan. The fastest riders are setting a very quick pace here, so Nicky’s target is to improve machine set-up so he can push harder over the next two days.”