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)

“We ended up not too bad but it’d be nicer to be faster on race tyres. To be honest, it’s been a frustrating couple of days here. We got into the 31s about the fourth exit from the pits on the first day and really we haven’t been able to go any faster since then, except with the qualifiers, which were good.

We’ve chased our tail a bit and I haven’t really found a batch of race tyres I like. I struggled a lot when I was here for last year’s race, but I did find something I liked. I didn’t have that option this week, so I can’t say I’m completely happy with the combination of bike, rider and tyres.

We tried the pneumatic-valve engine and the conventional spec engine in the new chassis at this test. We did a lot of tyre testing with Michelin using the conventional engine. The chassis did some good stuff but not enough through this fast stuff here.

We left Sepang last week in a positive way and it’s still early days, there’s a lot of work still to be done. Now we go back to Sepang for two days, we’ve got a few days off and then keep trying to chip away at it.”

MotoGP Test Results

1. Casey Stoner Ducati 1:28.777 (51)
2. Nicky Hayden Honda 1:29.734 (102)
3. James Toseland Yamaha 1:29.754 (89)
4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1:29.780 (90)
5. Colin Edwards Yamaha 1:29.795 (56)
6. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1:30.216 (73)
7. Alex De Angelis Honda 1:30.438 (91)
8. Shinya Nakano Honda 1:30.728 (89)
9. Toni Elias Ducati 1:30.966 (97)
10. Randy De Puniet Honda 1:30.978 (115)
11. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati 1:30.983 (58)
12. Marco Melandri Ducati 1:31.377 (108)
13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1:31.508 (75)
14. Anthony West Kawasaki 1:31.957 (90)

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.

Conditions stayed stable long enough to do that, which a lot of times in the rain is hard, you know, it’s dry, it’s wet, it’s pouring, it’s deep water, but today it stayed pretty stable so we got to check some stuff. The general feeling in the wet was okay, then in the afternoon it dried out enough to get some dry lap times.

My best time was about the same as I did yesterday, I wasn’t able to improve, though conditions were a little bit cooler and not as good today, so I think that’s a positive. We’re not where we need to be on race pace consistently.

I tried to test a few tyres today but at the moment we’re struggling for traction on the edge. So we need to have a meeting tonight with Michelin and maybe try something completely different. We struggled a bit here when we were here for the race, so we need to definitely address the problem tomorrow.

We get one more day at it and hopefully the weather looks a lot better, so we’ll co me in here and try to make a big step forward.”

After a long 2007 season the Repsol Honda Team will now enjoy some well-earned time off over Christmas before the MotoGP winter test schedule begins again on January 22 at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.

Nicky Hayden Fastest lap: 1m 38.848s – 82 laps

“Again it’s been positive today. We spent a big part of the day on the new RC212V and tried the mahcine with qualifying tyres for the first time. The lap time I did was pretty good and I really didn’t expect to go that much faster than race tyres, so I’m pretty happy. I also did a long run and, although that wasn’t on my favourite tyre, Michelin got some useful information from the run. We also found some good tyres over the three days of the test so it was positive on that front. The one slightly frustrating thing was that I rode the new machine for entire test except for the last hour today and I immediately went faster by about four tenths faster on race tyres which means we’ve got a bit of talking to do. There are still a few issues to iron out with the new engine but Honda knows how to make engines so I’m confident about it. Plus the chassis on this new machine is really good and a big improvement. I guess you could say it’s been a bad year, but it’s certainly not a bad life and so we’ll come back give it everything next season. A big thanks to all the team, sponsors and everyone who’s given me support this year. I’m really excited about coming back in good shape for when things fire up again in Qatar for the night race.”

Nicky Hayden’s quickest lap of 1’40.692s on race tyres was an improvement of 0.3s over yesterday and the 26-year-old American was only 0.04s behind Pedrosa’s best on race rubber. The test continues for one final day tomorrow before the 2007 MotoGP programme finally grinds to a close.

Nicky Hayden

“I think we picked up where we left off yesterday and the test went quite well again. We didn’t work any miracles out there but we chipped away at the times and made some improvements. I wasn’t a lot faster today but I was able to take a little bit off the lap time and was certainly more consistent in my pace than before.

I think everyone in front of me today used qualifying tyres and as far as the team knew nobody went faster than 1’40.6s on race tyres, which is pretty encouraging because yesterday I was definitely off by a couple of tenths on race tyres. Today we were right in there, the team’s done a good job and we had quite a good day.

We were trying some quite big changes with the chassis set-up today which is what you have to do to learn how the bike reacts and behaves in different conditions. Overall we collected a lot of useful information and hopefully we can keep the progress going tomorrow.”

Nicky Hayden was back on board the RC212V just ten days after the Sepang test and he too was encouraged by the latest developments to this all-new machine. The 2006 World Champion completed 63 laps today and finished the day with the fifth fastest time. His lap of 1m 40.923s was also inside his fastest lap from the March race when he recorded a best time of 1m 41.441s. The test continues at Jerez for two more days.

Nicky Hayden Fastest lap: 1m 40.923s – 63 laps

“Overall it was a pretty positive day. We tried some modifications to the engine to get it running better than it did at the previous two tests and now it seems to be more responsive and to be running a little better – though it’s still not quite there. We also changed a few things on the chassis, for instance the offset, which took a while and reduced our track time somewhat, but this was important to try to understand more about the machine. This is the first time I’ve been able to come into the garage, focus on the 2008 machine and spend the whole day on it so that was beneficial. It wasn’t a perfect start to the test – that’s pretty rare – but we definitely learned some useful things and I’m encouraged by the start we’ve made here today. Let’s see what happens over the next few days and aim to make some more improvements.”

aps to evaluate engine settings, test race tyre options and gather valuable data for the HRC technicians in preparation for the coming season. Following this positive track time at Sepang, the factory Honda squad now looks forward to a further three-day test at the Jerez circuit in Spain, beginning on November 27, where Hayden will once again be joined in the garage by Pedrosa. The intense 2007 schedule is then finally brought to a close by the winter MotoGP test ban which runs from December 1 2007 until January 20 2008.

Nicky Hayden

“Overall we’ve had a good final day and it was nice to set the fastest time. We wanted to check a couple of details with the 2007 machine just before we said goodbye to it. The bike really worked well with the Michelin rear qualifying tyre, plus the track has definitely been cleaner at this test than at the race in October and the temperature for that fast lap this morning was a lot better than on the Saturday of the Grand Prix when we qualified – which was about the hottest day of the year here. Today we also worked through a lot of stuff on the new 2008 machine, mainly engine mapping, electronics and tyres before we get to work on the chassis proper in the up-coming tests. We always knew there was hard work ahead starting out with a completely new machine and I’m pleased we’ve been able to get on with it in the last few days. I improved constantly, which I’m pleased about, and we know what we have to do now. The weather was kind to us today and I had a snake-free day which was a bonus! It’s time to go home now and I’m definitely looking forward to the break. I’ve only been at home for four days in the past six weeks and I’ve got my brother Tommy’s wedding coming up, along with Thanksgiving, so it will be nice to get back.”

Official lap times

1. Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team 2’00.592
2. Colin Edwards Yamaha Tech 3 2’01.811
3. John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 2’02.047
4. Andrea Dovizioso JiR Scot Honda 2’02.128
5. Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2’02.447
6. Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2’02.587
7. Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 2’02.643
8. Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 2’02.659
9. Randy de Puniet Honda LCR 2’02.700
10. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 2’03.550

Nicky Hayden is relishing his return to the scene of his extraordinary World Championship victory last year. Few can forget the emotional conclusion to the spectacular 2006 season where the American overturned an eight-point deficit to Valentino Rossi and clinched his first world title. While 2007 hasn’t gone to plan for Hayden, he has regained front-running pace in recent races and that, combined with his confidence at the Valencia circuit, should make him a real threat this weekend. The 26-year-old likes Valencia and has a good recent record here, having finished second in 2005 and third last year.

There are certainly more challenging and scenic circuits on the MotoGP calendar than Valencia, but its status as the final race of the season combined with the jubilant atmosphere generated by the vast and passionate race-day crowd guarantees that the Grand Prix of Valencia is a special occasion. Last year’s attendance for the weekend was a stunning 233,399 fans, with 129,466 of those witnessing Hayden’s ride to the world title on race day. Largely characterised by tight second and third gear corners, the left-handed track keeps the MotoGP riders busy as they thread their 210+ bhp machines through Valencia’s relentless sequence of turns.

The race weekend begins on Friday with two hour-long practice sessions, before a further hour of practice on Saturday morning is following by qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 30-lap race begins at 2pm local time.

Nicky Hayden previews at the GP of Valencia 

“Well here we are on our way to Valencia and I can’t quite believe it’s the last race of the year. I’m really looking forward to this weekend but actually I’m not that happy the season is nearly over because we’ve had decent pace in the last few races and in some ways I wish the season was starting again, not ending. Obviously the season hasn’t gone exactly as I’d have liked and I wish there was some more races to go.

Nonetheless, I’m really looking forward to going back to Valencia because the circuit has a special place in my heart with everything that went down there last year. On top of that I just like the track and the way it’s laid out in such a tight area. It’s a track I’ve gone well at in the past and certainly it’s our last chance of the season so we’ll try to go out with style. It’ll be my last race with the number one plate this year so I’ll definitely be pushing as hard as always. To be honest I can’t wait for the weekend to begin.”