Hayden fastest on third day in Jerez

Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden rode the fastest lap during three busy days of testing at Jerez, the American this afternoon riding a lightning-quick lap on qualifiers, more than half a second inside last year’s Spanish GP pole position. Testing started late this morning following a rain shower, the conditions staying cool and blustery throughout.

2006 MotoGP World Champion Hayden, who was also fastest on day one and third quickest in yesterday’s official qualifying-style shootout session which was run in the wet, left the Spanish circuit in buoyant mood after some productive work on chassis set-up and Michelin tire development.

The MotoGP paddock now moves to Qatar for the final preseason tests at Losail (on February 28 and 29) where the first race of 2008 takes place under floodlights on the night of March 9.

Nicky Hayden – fastest lap: 1m 38.848s (lap 81 of 82)
“It’s definitely been a really positive and productive three days. We had high hopes coming here because when we tested here in November the bike worked pretty good and Michelin tires normally work good at Jerez, so this is a good track for us, also there’s no big long straightaways. The wind here has made it tough, the conditions haven’t been easy, but I do feel more comfortable on this year’s bike in the wind. The team really worked hard and made some good moves and good decisions. We didn’t make a lot of big changes, we just got closer to race settings, tried a couple of qualifiers and did a 25 lap run. The chassis seems to be working good and also the tires are working good. We tried a few different tire options, and we’re still checking data between the 16 and 16.5 rears. But the show hasn’t started yet, we’ll find out what everybody’s really got and what we’re in for when we get to Qatar but we leave here pretty happy. At the Qatar tests we’ll see how it is under the lights and dial everything in for the first race."

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