Repsol Honda RC212V rider Nicky Hayden completed his second afternoon of testing at Catalunya today, working between the rain showers. The American continued back-to-back tests with the pneumatic-valve RC212V engine and the conventional valve-spring RCV engine. He rode a promising race simulation using the pneumatic-valve engine, averaging high 1m 42s and low 1m 43s, a second faster than he had managed in Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix, for which he used the valve-spring engine.
Hayden tested alone today. Team-mate Dani Pedrosa, winner on Sunday, didn’t ride today following yesterday’s painful highside accident that left him with a sore back and shoulders.
Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 1m 42.555s (43 laps)“The weather definitely was not cooperative today. A few showers would come over every hour, make things just wet enough so we couldn’t get all the work done that we wanted to, but that’s how the weather goes. Nonetheless we rode the new engine a lot of the day, tried to get it dialled in, but we had a few little problems with it, which was frustrating. We also worked on trying to make the engine better over a long run. I did a run of over 20 laps and was able to stay very consistent which was good. We would’ve liked to have got more time with it, but I’ve seen enough that I like. I’ve got a better feeling with the pneumatic-valve engine, so I look forward to racing it as soon as the guys say it’s ready.”
Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager“Nicky was impressed with the pneumatic-valve engine this afternoon but we think that further fine-tuning of its electronics is required to improve overall race-distance performance. If we are able to complete this work before the British Grand Prix, then Nicky would like to use the engine at Donington. Otherwise we hope to use the engine at the Dutch TT the following weekend.”
Lap Times:1. C.Stoner (Ducati) 1:42.180
2. C.Dovizioso (Honda) 1:42.222
3 N. Hayden (Repsol Honda) 1:42.5554. C.Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1:42.590
5. R.De Puniet (Honda) 1:43.039
6. N.Canepa (Ducati) 1:43.683
7. S.Guintoli (Ducati) 1:44.074
8. T.Elias (Ducati) 1:44.538
