Hayden fastest in Jerez

Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden topped the first day of the penultimate preseason tests at Jerez today, while team-mate Dani Pedrosa returned to action still nursing his hand injury. Hayden rode more laps than anyone in cool, blustery conditions, evaluating a modified RC212V chassis with revised stiffness character, otherwise focusing on detail set-up changes. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion also recorded the fastest top speed at 282km/h-175.

Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 1m 39.200s (lap 84 of 107)
“All in all, a pretty positive day. I would definitely say this was the best first day of tests we’ve had so far this year. And we knew it was important, because the weather experts are saying there’s a really good chanced of rain the next two days. I tried a different chassis, it felt slightly better with a little more feel on the front, so we used that most of the day and it felt pretty good. We went through a few other things, not making big changes because we’re getting closer to the season now, just a few little settings changes, and when I thought things felt better the stopwatch normally went along with it, which is always good. At the end I did race distance and it didn’t feel too bad. We were able to get into the 40s on race tires, though we still need to get in there a little deeper, we still need to improve a bit."

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