Nicky Hayden makes Ducati GP12 debut

Nicky Hayden has completed his first assessment of Ducati’s new 1000cc four-stroke MotoGP at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

Less than 24 hours after Valentino Rossi completed his first evaluation of the GP12 machine on Friday, Hayden completed 61-laps yesterday (Saturday)

“When I woke up, the sky was really grey and the track was completely wet,” said the 2006 world champion, who finished third in a rain-hit Spanish Grand Prix earlier this month.

“I was pretty disappointed. I didn’t think we’d be able to do anything because it wouldn’t have made sense to waste a day testing in those conditions. The situation got better and better though, and after lunch, I was able to put on my leathers.

“I couldn’t wait to ride, and it was worth the wait. It’s an honour to be able to participate in the first track test of the GP12 because it doesn’t happen very often that you get to ride a bike on the track for the first time: it’s a special feeling.

“Everything went well, and we didn’t have a single problem: the motor is really nice to use, and I had a lot of fun riding the bike. I hope I gave some useful feedback to Filippo (Preziosi) and the boys. I know they’ll be working on this bike while we go back to focusing on the next race, because this season just started.”

Project leader and Ducati technical guru Preziosi said: “It was possible to carry out three days of trouble-free testing and complete nearly a thousand kilometers with the GP12 in its track debut.

“Having received consistent feedback about the bike from four different riders puts us in a position to efficiently continue the development process, because we can prioritise the work we have left to carry out.”

Rossi and Hayden completed their first laps on the new 2012 bike after Vittoriano Guareschi and Franco Battaini had took part in a shakedown session on Thursday.