With the dust barely settled after yesterday’s action-packed Grand Prix of Turkey, Repsol Honda’s World Champion, Nicky Hayden, was back in the saddle at Istanbul Park on Monday, continuing the development of his RC212V MotoGP bike. Following his gritty ride to seventh place in the 22-lap race, Hayden and his crew worked through a programme of chassis set-up adjustments and Michelin tyre tests intended to further enhance the performance of the factory Honda ahead of the next race in China.
The 25-year-old champion once again proved he’s not shy about putting in the hard miles by completing a mammoth 106 laps of the demanding 5.340km (3.316 miles) circuit – a mere four laps shy of five full race distances. Furthermore, his best lap time of 1m 53.85s was set on race tyres and marked an improvement of 0.5s over his fastest lap from the race yesterday.
Hayden’s team-mate, Dani Pedrosa wasn’t present today, having returned home to Barcelona following the unfortunate lap-one incident yesterday which saw the 21-year-old Spaniard taken out of the race. Pedrosa visited the Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona this morning where he underwent magnetic resonance scanning on his neck and chest, and further chest x-rays. The tests showed heavy bruising but no fractures. Pedrosa will continue wearing a collar for four or five days to avoid any sudden movements and to relax his neck and cervical muscles, whilst following a treatment based on painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs. The 2006 MotoGP Rookie of the Year is expected to be fit for the next race at the Shanghai International circuit on May 6 – scene of his debut MotoGP victory last year.
Nicky Hayden Best lap time: 1m 53.85s – 106 laps“Today my best lap came with a race tyre and 1m 53.8 is a lot faster than I went over the weekend so that’s a good sign - that’s basically as fast as I went on Saturday with qualifying tyres. I know it doesn’t count for too much on Monday, but I think we made some slight improvements. We definitely collected some useful information, though it’s not like we knocked a wall down or anything. One thing we really worked on was trying to make the front tyres last a little bit longer because I’ve been hard on front tyres this weekend and I think we achieved that.”
Unofficial lap times, lap counts and tyres. (Q = qualifying tyre) 1. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 53.1s - Q - 68
2. Alex Barros - D’Antin Ducati 1m 53.2s - Q - 65
3. Toni Elias - Honda Gresini 1m 53.3s - 74
4. Casey Stoner -Ducati Marlboro Team1m 53.3s - Q - 42
5. Marco Melandri - Gresini Honda1m 53.4s - Q - 85
6. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 53.5s - 68
7. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 53.6s - Q - 52
8. Randy de Puniet - Kawasaki Racing 1m 53.6s - 52
9. Carlos Checa - LCR Honda 1m 53.6s - Q - 27
10. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team 1m 53.8s - 106
11. Kenny Roberts Jr - Team Roberts 1m 53.9s - 84
12. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 54.0s - 66
13. Alex Hofmann - D’Antin Ducati 1m 54.2s - 32
14. Sylvain Guintoli - Tech 3 Yamaha 1m 54.5s - 68
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