Nicky Hayden went back to work at Jerez on Monday following the Spanish GP which his team mate Pedrosa won in brilliant style, Hayden building momentum with a fine ride to fourth. Nicky Hayden evaluated new parts and new settings, working hard to continue the impressive progress he made over the Spanish GP weekend, during which he raced a new chassis for the first time.
Nicky Hayden, 9th, 1m 40. 389s, 80 laps
“We learned some stuff today, we were able to run pretty decent and consistent laps using reference tyres and we got some good data, so quite a positive day all in all. We had nothing major to test, just some different clutch options to get into the corners a little bit better and some general setup options, looking for a bit of edge traction to help save the tyre over race distance. We’ll come back again tomorrow, get another full day and just work our way through some more options.”
MotoGP Test Results Jerez Click here to read more
The Repsol Honda rider finished the official MotoGP test satisfied with the improvements on the chassis.
The weather forecast was fortunately wrong today, and in spite of the strong wind on the Spanish track throughout the day, the MotoGP riders were able to enjoy a completely dry track during the last test at Jerez. Now it is time for a few days’ rest before heading for Qatar at the end of this month. Next 28th and 29th of Febuary the last 2008 pre-season tests will be held in preparation for the Qatar GP, with the peculiarity of being run during the night, the first nocturnal race in the history of the World Motorcycling Championship, which starts this year on March 9th.
After achieving the best time on Saturday and taking third place in yesterday’s timed session, Nicky Hayden leaves the Jerez Circuit leading the time sheet. The Repsol rider was the only rider to achieve times below 1?39 over the three days of training, demonstrating the enormous potential of the Michelin qualification tyres. The American has also been working on the development of his RC212V 2008, with new improvements on the chassis. In total he completed 82 laps on the Andalusian track, again the rider to complete the most laps. His best lap was No. 81, with classification tyres. Hayden also ran a race simulation with satisfactory results according to the rider himself. Click here to read more
Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden took third place in today’s official preseason MotoGP practice session – the first actual competition of the year, in which MotoGP riders compete to win a BMW car.
The American was fired up for the 40-minute qualifying-style shootout which was run on a wet track following heavy morning rainfall.
Nicky Hayden is hoping for better weather tomorrow to allow him to continue work on development of the 2008 RC212V machine before they head to Qatar for the final preseason tests on February 28 and 29, one week before the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix.
Nicky Hayden – fastest lap: 1m 50.785s (lap 15 of 16)
“It was fun, because it’s a bit of competition, and not just because there was a car on the line, we could’ve been racing for a piece of bubblegum and everybody would’ve tried just as hard! We’re all competitors and it was pretty fun but conditions were not ideal.
I wish they had been a little more stable, but right at the end when the clock was about to hit zero the conditions were almost at their worst, they were about to go dry. We did our best time a little earlier in the session. We ran full rains throughout, I seen that 49 and knew that was going to be tough, Casey (Stoner) really put one down. Click here to read more
American Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda topped the times sheet at the end of day one of the three-day IRTA MotoGP test at Jerez today. In cool 18 degree temperatures and windy conditions Hayden, from Owensboro, Kentucky, put in an amazing 107 laps of the 4.423 km Spanish circuit. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion tested a variation of the latest RCV chassis which has a modified stiffness characteristic to the chassis he has run with in the previous two winter tests, while running with the 2008 version of the RC212V equipped with standard valve springs. Nicky Hayden also spent a large part of his day testing new tyres for Michelin.
Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1’39.200 – on lap 84 of 107 Click here to read more
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