After two days of on-and-off rainfall, the sun finally shone at Valencia today, with close to 120,000 fans thronging the track’s grandstands. Hayden didn’t get away from the grid as cleanly as he had hoped and ended the first lap in fourth spot. He got up to third for four laps but then slipped to fifth, a position which he then held to the flag.

Hayden, team-mate Dani Pedrosa and their RCVS wore a special one-off livery today that celebrates Repsol’s 40 years of motorsport sponsorship, using the same livery that featured on the company’s first rally cars in 1969. Repsol moved into motorcycle sponsorship two years later with Derbi riders Angel Nieto, who won the 1971 125 World Championship, and Barry Sheene, who took 33rd in that year’s 250 World Championship. Since then Repsol has won an amazing 33 World Championships with Nieto, Sheene, Mick Doohan, Alex Crivillé, Valentino Rossi and Pedrosa.

Nicky Hayden, finished 5th, 6th in World Championship

“We started out the weekend like a bit of a fairytale – fastest in the first three sessions, so we were off to a good start, I think the conditions were better for us then. Yesterday afternoon we were third and on the front row, then this morning we had a big off which probably didn’t help things. I just lost the front at turn nine, maybe conditions were a bit too cool for that front tyre. I had to swap bikes for the race and my crew had to change a lot of stuff: callipers, swingarm and so on. My other bike didn’t feel so smooth. It wasn’t too bad but I definitely liked my first bike better, but that was my fault. In the race I didn’t quite get the start I wanted and those guys were just quicker in the beginning, my rhythm wasn’t quick enough. It obviously would’ve been better to finish my last race with Honda a bit stronger. I rode hard this weekend, now I’m looking forward to doing something different. I have to finish off by saying thanks to my team, to Honda, to Michelin and to everybody here. They made me a world champ, I’m grateful to them all.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“Nicky had quite a heavy crash this morning, but in the race he pushed as hard as he could. He did a good job this weekend. He was fastest in three practice sessions, qualified on the front row of the grid and I know he very much wanted to finish on the podium. My thanks to Nicky for a wonderful six seasons with Repsol Honda, my thanks also to the team and to Michelin.”

It hasn’t been an easy two days of practice and qualifying at Valencia, but Hayden showed his mettle by topping all three practice sessions, on a soaking track yesterday and in the damp this morning. With more rain clouds looming this afternoon, Hayden’s crew sent him out on his first sets of qualifiers after 20 minutes in case the occasional drizzle turned into rain. His first qualifying run put him fastest, then he improved his time some more, before reverting to race tyres, before a final run on qualifiers which left him just shy of pole. This is Hayden’s third front-row start in the last four races.

Nicky Hayden, 3rd fastest, 1’31.703

“We were close but close don’t count, I guess! We shouldn’t be too bummed out though, because we’re on the front row. It was pretty obvious that we really wanted to be on pole, we’ve been fastest all weekend, the bike is working good and the team did a great job when it started sprinkling, getting one bike ready with qualifiers early on. It was quite a tough session, going to qualifiers and then back to race tyres. On my last qualifying run I did a 32.0 on my first lap and I knew it was going to be tough to get into 31s. I really pushed hard, really hung it out, but the bike was just moving around too much to be fast. The best I could do was a 31.7. I definitely pushed as hard as I could, though maybe I should’ve got the tyre a bit hotter on the out lap. It’s always a compromise – sometimes you get it too hot and sometimes you don’t get it hot enough. I didn’t get the lap time I needed, so I’m a little frustrated because it would’ve been cool to give Michelin a pole position for their last MotoGP race. But we’ve got a good bike and a good set-up, so we’ll just try to go for it in the race. I didn’t get to do many laps on race tyres, what with the drizzle and the qualifiers. I’ve only tried a couple of race tyres, so we’ll definitely talk to Michelin and use every bit of morning warm-up to get the information we need to make our tyre choice.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“Nicky did a good job, he got very close to pole and it’s great that he will start his final race with Honda from the front row of the grid. He didn’t get many laps on race tyres, so we still have some work to do on tyre choice, also his crew will try to make some more settings improvements during morning warm-up. We will all work hard tomorrow, targeting victory at the last race of 2008.”

Fittingly, for the last race of the wettest GP season in living memory, both of today’s sessions were run in the wet, Hayden showing his mastery of the slippery Valencia circuit on his Michelin-equipped RCV. This morning’s outing was run in heavy rain, conditions improving slightly this afternoon, with less surface water on the track, which allowed Hayden to better his first session time by almost two seconds.

Nicky Hayden 1st position 1’45.777

“It was pretty soggy out there, just rain all day. The bike, the team, everything was on point today, now we’ve just got to keep it rolling, because nobody’s going to remember who was quickest Friday come Sunday night. The bike and tyres and everything worked pretty good straight away today. We’ve been using basically the same rain settings I’ve been using since Sachsenring, they’ve worked at different tracks and they’re working good here, though this track doesn’t have a lot of grip, so to go any faster we need to sweeten it up a bit. I like being fastest and if it means staying wet all weekend then that would be fine for me, but honestly I hope it dries up. It’s going to be a hard weekend, just trying to stay on top, everybody’s pushing hard, but we’re off to a good start and I’m having fun. If it dries up tomorrow we don’t think finding a set-up should be too difficult, because the last couple of races we’ve been using relatively the same settings. The main thing is going to be tyre choice, that’s going to be real tough, because there’s not going to be much dry time, but it’s the same for everybody.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“Nicky did a very good job today, he and his crew found a good set-up very quickly, so they could be fastest in both sessions. Michelin tyres are working very well here in these difficult conditions. The latest weather forecast suggests that conditions will improve tomorrow, so Nicky and his team will have to come up with a dry setting, working towards the race on Sunday.”

Hayden fought long and hard for third place, sneaking ahead of rival Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V) on a couple of occasions and crossing the finishing line just three tenths behind the Italian. Today’s result continues a strong run of results from the American, with two podiums from the last four races. Honda machines featured well in today’s race, with four RC212Vs in the top five. Conditions were ultra tough, with ambient temperatures reaching 40 degrees.

Next weekend’s Valencia GP is the 18th and final race of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship.

Nicky Hayden, finished 4th, 6th in World Championship

“We knew it was never going to be easy – all weekend we’ve been sixth and seventh, and with the changeable weather we were never really able to find anything set-up-wise. Then we had a bad warm-up. We tried some stuff overnight and went a bit backwards, so for the race I was quite unsure how it was going to go. We put the bike back to how it was yesterday morning, and it was okay, but I was just missing that little bit. The race honestly went better than I thought I would, it could’ve been uglier. I pushed hard, a couple of times I was able to get in front of Dovi, but he held tough. Man, he don’t give in for nothing. I enjoyed the battle, it was fun battling for the podium after the dudes up front took off early. I tried everything I could, I was pushing the front quite a lot, through Turn Three mainly. Maybe I should have tried something a little more silly on the last lap, that’s always hindsight, but sure I’ll beat myself up tonight, thinking I should have taken some bigger chances, but I was already pushing hard. Congratulations to Dovi on his first podium, he earned it.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“Nicky again pushed hard, his motivation is very high, and he was so close to scoring his third podium in four races. He had a great race with Andrea, they were both riding very hard, so it was difficult for them to overtake each other. Nicky ran wide a couple of times, so he lost his chance to attack at the end of the last lap. My thanks to him, to the team and to Michelin for their efforts here. Now we target Valencia, and the target is the same as always: to win.”

Qualifying got underway on a soaking track following a monumental downpour that hit Sepang before lunchtime.

Riders started out on rain tyres, then swapped to slicks with about 20 minutes remaining. The session was frantic, with pole position changing constantly and riders trying to pack as many qualifying tyres as they could into the last few minutes when the track was at its driest, with damp patches here and there. Hayden’s final run might have got him on pole. He got the fastest time of the session in the first two splits but then ran out of front grip. There hadn’t been enough time for him to fit a new front qualifier for that final outing.

Tomorrow Hayden goes for his third podium from the last four races. The American finished second in last month’s Indianapolis GP and third in the Australian GP earlier this month.

Nicky Hayden, 4th fastest, 2’02.192

“It was quite a wild day. This morning we improved quite a lot, but so did everybody else. It wasn’t spectacular but we definitely made an improvement, at times we were really competitive. This afternoon was pretty gnarly. We started on full wets and the track kept drying and drying. We ended up fourth which isn’t a disaster. At one stage near the end I was 15th, thankfully we didn’t get any big showers then, so I was able to get in a good lap, but I really wanted to be on the front row. I was fastest in T1 and T2 on my last qualifier. But lately I can only get one run out of my qualifying fronts and we didn’t have enough time to change the tyre, because with the big discs we use here it take a while to change. So I did two runs on it and midway round my last lap she was done and I lost some time. I’m a little bit bummed, I haven’t had a pole all year and every year for the last few years I’ve had at least one. The rear Michelin qualifier was amazing, it was ridiculous how much grip it had, even across the wet patches. If we can make a little step in the morning, get the bike turning a little better, I feel like I can be competitive. It’s going to be a long, hard race if I’m going to hang in there.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“Nicky got the second row which is great, because I think he can fight at the front tomorrow. He still wants to make a few little improvements to improve machine turning, so the morning warm-up will be very important for him. Nicky’s motivation is very high, he wants to score another podium.”

At one point during the second session the rain was heavy enough to bring riders into the pits, but during most of the hour only a light drizzle fell, not enough to force riders to switch to treaded tyres but enough to prevent them from fully exploiting their slick tyres. Lap times hardly improved throughout the day, FP2 only a few hundredths faster than FP1 and Hayden just a tenth faster second time out. The MotoGP pack was impressively close today, considering this is MotoGP longest racetrack with a two minutes-plus lap time, Hayden just eight tenths off the best lap of the day.

Nicky Hayden, 9th fastest, 2’03.550

“Obviously I don’t like to be down in ninth, but we have made a little bit of progress today. The track was quite dirty this morning, there was a lot of sand around, but it seemed to clean up all right. This afternoon’s session was quite tricky, there was a light rain pretty much the whole session, but it’s so hot here that the rain is pretty much gone before it even touches the ground. The bike feels pretty decent and the tyres seem okay, so I’m confident that we can improve, that’s the plan. It was quite strange this afternoon. If that had been the race it would have been interesting – it was raining pretty heavy at one point, everybody came into the pits at one point. It’s been doing that the last couple of afternoons, so maybe it’ll be like that on Sunday. We haven’t had a half-and-half race for a while, so maybe that would be quite cool. Now my foot’s better I can switch bikes and they’ve got a big wide pit road here, so it might be fun, but I’d better be careful what I wish for.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“The weather conditions could be a very important factor here over the next few days. We have had some rain over the last two afternoons, so it would be useful if we could have a fully wet session in case it rains on Sunday. Nicky seems to be getting on okay, he is working on set-up as usual, but he has no big settings issues to work on.”

The 2006 World Champion’s third-place result at the fastest track of the year was his second podium in three races, following a brave ride to second in last month’s hurricane-hit Indianapolis Grand Prix. After qualifying third fastest yesterday, the American got a great start to go with race winner Casey Stoner, staying in touch with the Australian during the early stages. During the final few laps Hayden struggled with rear grip and came under pressure from newly crowned World Champion Valentino Rossi, the Italian snatching second place at the start of the very last lap. Hayden tried to counter attack at Honda hairpin but ran wide and had to settle for third. Fittingly for the fastest and greatest racetrack on the MotoGP calendar, the last three World Champions climbed the podium: Stoner, Rossi and Hayden.

Nicky Hayden, finished third, sixth in World Championship

“We got a really good start and I thought was going to lead. Things felt pretty good early on, I went a lot faster in the race than I went all weekend. The bike and everything was working pretty good, so I was able to stay with Casey for a while, I felt comfortable there. Then once he started to pull away I had some issues, I couldn’t keep the corner speed I had early on. I enjoyed the race, it was a lot of fun – riding this track for 27 laps is quite intense, you don’t realise how fast you’re going around here. It was a good battle at the end, Valentino started coming for me, I started to ride a little harder but I ended up going a little slower. I tried to stay wheels in line as best I could and hold him off. But I didn’t get off the last corner great going into the last lap. Coming down the start-finish I saw him on the big TV screen out of the corner of my eye, so I knew it was going to be tough, there wasn’t much I could do, I didn’t have much tyre left. Nonetheless it’s cool to be on the podium, I enjoyed the race. My Michelin guys wanted me to run a harder tyre. I did the sighting lap on that tyre, put back in my original choice for the race. The warm-up was really good, it was nice to get some heat in there. It got a little loose at the end but it was fun. A big thanks to my team and to all my fans for sticking with me.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“Nicky did a great job today, congratulations to him and the team for the podium result. The race was pretty tough, with a very fast pace, but the rider, his machine and the Michelin tyres worked well at Phillip Island today. I would like to thank Nicky and the team for this result.”

Hayden was in the fight for pole position throughout this afternoon’s qualifying session, run in cool, breezy conditions. He twice set the pace before ending up third quickest, just 0.091 seconds off the fastest time, and was one of four men to break his own 1m 29.020s outright track record, which he established in 2006, the last year of the 990s. And yet the American was somewhat disappointed to have missed out on pole at one of his favourite tracks, having been fastest in this morning’s final free practice session and in yesterday afternoon’s soaking-wet session. For tomorrow Hayden plans some further fine tuning of machine settings, working to find more traction round a racetrack which involves a lot of speed and a lot of throttle.

Nicky Hayden, 3rd fastest, 1’28.756

“The front row is always really important and I’m happy to there, but to be honest I’m a bit disappointed. I’ve had a couple of poles here before, and today another one certainly wasn’t out of the question, there was less than a tenth in it. I would really liked to have been on pole, the season’s on its way out, so it would be nice to have salvaged one of them. But we have been competitive all weekend, fastest this morning and in the rain yesterday, so we’re not too far away. I know the race isn’t going to be easy, we need to sweeten up the bike to see if we can get some more traction, also the rider’s going to have to get it together a little better. The team is doing a great job here, everyone at Repsol Honda is working hard and the Michelin tyres seem to be good. I’ll try to get in there tomorrow and not let these guys get away from me.”

Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager

“”Nicky did a very good job today, so he will be able to start from the front row tomorrow. His motivation is very high at the moment and this will give him an extra boost for the race. His race pace is quite good and he really likes this racetrack, so we hope he can have a great race and fight for the win.”