Nicky Hayden leaves Malaysia pleased with the work carried out so far, centered mainly on the chassis and on new compounds for the Michelin tyres
Nicky Hayden made an early start to his final day of testing at Sepang today and the American was quickly up to speed on the Repsol liveried RC212V Honda on a hot and humid day. The ambient temperature soared to 34 degrees with the track surface at 46 by early afternoon, rising to 60 plus degrees at one point consequently reducing the level of grip in the process.
Despite the sweltering conditions the Repsol Honda team technicians managed to improve the chassis specification of the factory RC212V and find suitable Michelin rubber to suit the set up in the extreme conditions.
The former MotoGP World Champion was pleased with the results achieved over the two days and will not test on the final day of the planned three-day test. He now leaves Malaysia for his Kentucky home and a well earned break before MotoGP tes ting resumes in completely different weather conditions at the Jerez circuit, Southern Spain on February 16 to 18.
Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 2m 00.900s (lap 36 of 90) Click here to read more
Nicky Hayden is content with the improved RC212V chassis performance on day one of the MotoGP test in Sepang, Malaysia. The Repsol Honda Team was back on track at Sepang today for the second pre-season test at the 5.548 km Malaysian grand prix circuit. American Nicky Hayden, MotoGP World Champion in 2006, is the sole factory Team rider present at Sepang his team mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa at home in Barcelona working on his recovery from a hand injury sustained at Sepang last month.
Repsol Honda team work today focused on chassis comparison testing while running with a variety of front and rear tyres from Michelin. The Repsol Honda Team technicians tried slight geometry variations that improved the overall balance of the RCV and provided Hayden with better rear end grip, particularly on the edge of the rear tyre. Hayden crashed at turn 15 near the end of the day escaping unscathed from the incident.
Nicky Hayden and the team will continue chassis comparison testing tomorrow working from the data gathered today while running with the latest Michelin tyre developments.
Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 2m 01.949s (lap 80 of 80) Click here to read more
The 2006 MotoGP world champion and his Repsol Honda team say goodbye to the trainings in Australia and head again to Malaysia to continue with the next week tests.
Nicky Hayden and Repsol Honda completed their second 2008 pre season test today, the American ending this Phillip Island session with the second fastest lap time. After yesterday’s rainfall, today’s conditions were perfect: sunny with ambient temperature at 1 9 to 22 degrees and track temperature at 35 degrees.
Hayden and his hard-working crew dedicated the day to fine-tuning chassis set-up and evaluating Michelin race tyres, though like most other riders he did his best lap on qualifying tyres. The team will continue its pre season work at Sepang, Malaysia, next Tuesday and Wednesday, February 5 and 6.
Nicky Hayden was the team’s lone ride throughout this test, team-mate Dani Pedrosa recuperating in Europe from a hand injury sustained at Sepang last week. The date for Pedrosa’s return to action has yet to be fixed.
Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 1m 29.734s (lap 71 of 102) Click here to read more
Nicky Hayden took advantage of an excellent opportunity to test the new RC212V in the wet on Phillip Island
Morning rainfall at Phillip Island today gave Nicky Hayden the opportunity to evaluate his 2008 Repsol Honda RC212V for the first time in the rain. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion took to the wet track at 11am, tak ing the opportunity to get a feel for the V4 in low-grip conditions. The rain stopped at lunch time but the track wasn’t dry enough to continue with dry track testing until 3.40pm when Hayden returned to action on slicks.
Hayden had a very productive day and was happy with the bike’s performance in the rain. His dry-track pace was similar to yesterday’s despite cooler conditions and less traction following the rainfall. Tomorrow he will continue working on chassis settings and testing more tyres.
Nicky Hayden - fastest lap: 1m 31.373s (lap 71 of 72)
“You know, we get a lot more dry races than wet, so the dry’s more important, but we’ve got to be ready for everything, so today was useful. We were able to check the bike in the wet and make a few little adjustments. Click here to read more
Nicky Hayden had an intense day out on the track of Phillip Island, doing 107 laps of the Australian circuit.
Nicky Hayden put in a typically determined day’s work at Phillip Island today, riding an amazing 107 laps of the high-speed Australian circuit aboard his Repsol Honda RC212V. Once again the American tried both Honda’s latest pneumatic-valve engine and the conventional spring engine, focusing on the conventional engine in the afternoon.
Fastest at Sepang last week with qualifying tyres, the 2006 MotoGP World Champion only used race tyres today, making plenty of progress in excellent weather conditions with ambient temperature at 21 degrees and track temperature reaching 40 degrees. Tomorrow he will continue working on chassis and suspension settings and he will commence tyre testing – Phillip Island is a particularly challenging racetrack for tyres.
Nicky Hayden is currently Repsol Honda’s sole rider on track. His team-mate Dani Pedrosa is in Europe recuperating from an operation to fix the broken hand he suffered in Malaysia last week.
Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 1’31.226s (lap 96 of 107) Click here to read more
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