Qatar MotoGP: Nicky Hayden looking to improve communication

Nicky Hayden says it is crucial that he learns to communicate more clearly with his new Ducati squad ahead of his debut for the Bologna factory in Qatar this weekend.

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Hayden’s crew is predominantly Italian and throughout winter testing rider and team have been working on understanding each other better.

Kentucky rider Hayden speaks no Italian and he has admitted talking slang a lot, much to the confusion of his Italian speaking mechanics.

The issue became evident during the recent Jerez test session in Spain and the televised 45-minute dash for a BMW car.

Under pressure against the clock, Hayden admitted the communication issue had been a problem, and that it needed to be resolved with the reduced track time during races in 2009.

Hayden will have only three 45-minute sessions to find a set-up on the carbon fibre chassis GP9 this season and he told MCN: “We learned during that 45-minute session in Jerez. When things started happening a lot quicker, I was talking with my helmet on not being clear.

“We definitely got to make sure the communication is better because a lot of guys are all Italian and I’m talking English.

“When you can take your helmet off and sit down and be clear and not use slang it is kind of easy. But when things got heated we need to do better. But I’m excited to go racing.”