Nicky Hayden Content With Improved RC212V Chassis Performance On Day One Of Sepang Test

The Repsol Honda Team was back on track at Sepang today for the second pre-season test at the 5.548 km Malaysian grand prix circuit. American Nicky Hayden, MotoGP World Champion in 2006, is the sole factory Team rider present at Sepang his team mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa at home in Barcelona working on his recovery from a hand injury sustained at Sepang last month.
 
Repsol Honda team work today focused on chassis comparison testing while running with a variety of front and rear tyres from Michelin. The Repsol Honda Team technicians tried slight geometry variations that improved the overall balance of the RCV and provided Hayden with better rear end grip, particularly on the edge of the rear tyre. Hayden crashed at turn 15 near the end of the day escaping unscathed from the incident.
 
Hayden and the team will continue chassis comparison testing tomorrow working from the data gathered today while running with the latest Michelin tyre developments.

Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 2m 01.949s (lap 80 of 80) 

"We got a late start because the track was not in good shape after the overnight rain. Nobody was in a hurry to go out. When we did we all went together and cleaned up the track a little. We ran comparison chassis tests and confirmed what we learned at Phillip Island. The guys changed the geometry a little on the 2008 chassis and the bike had a better balance so we made some progress there.

Michelin gave me a couple of rear tyres I really liked, one 16 inch and one 16.5 both have good grip on the edge of the tyre and the bike felt a lot better. We will keep on working on the chassis tomorrow and test more tyres."
 
Lap Times

 1 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha  2:00.300
 2  Nicky Hayden  Repsol Honda  2:01:949
 3  Shinya Nakano  Honda Gresini  2:02:317
 4  Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha   2:02:654
 5  Alex De Angelis  Honda Gresini 2:03:231