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Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden (Photo: Honda Pro Images) ยป More Photos
Nicky Hayden is hoping to revive his early-season MotoGP campaign with a return to the 2008 model Honda RC212V for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. The move has ended Hayden’s short-lived use of the 2007 model RC212V that he raced in the opening round at Qatar.
That move, designed to overcome Hayden’s lack of confidence in the ‘08 bike, was not a success with Hayden qualifying sixth and finishing tenth. That result has left Hayden with an early mountain climb in the 18-round championship as he is already 19 points adrift of Qatar race winner Casey Stoner.
Sunday’s race marks the opening of the European season in southern Spain.
For the Jerez race Hayden will have the use of the updated chassis specification supplied to teammate Dani Pedrosa in Qatar, alongside the standard 2008 RC212V. For Hayden and teammate Pedrosa, who was third in Qatar, it appears Honda now intend to concentrate on improving the so far under-performing 2008 RC212V.
However, the Hondas are still fitted with last year’s valve-spring motor, as engineers continue the in-house development of the delayed pneumatic valve version. The air-valve motor will next be run in a two-day test following the Portuguese GP at Estoril next month.
While the Qatar bike choice has been painted as being done at Hayden’s insistence, the reality is different according to the 2006 world champion.
“It was a team decision, for whatever reason,” Hayden said. “You can pin it on me if you want and it wasn’t a great decision. But it was a team decision, it wasn’t just all down the rider, crew chief, or team manager.”
Hayden says the early revision to the 2008 chassis, designed for the air valve motor, is aimed at improving steering response.
“The steering geometry is different to help the turning,” Hayden said. “This chassis was designed for the air-valve motor which has more weight over the front-end and higher than the standard motor we are using for now.”
So the Repsol Honda factory bikes remain an unfinished hybrid -- 2008 chassis with ‘07 valve-spring motor -- until the higher revving air valve is race ready.
However Hayden believes that he will not lack engine performance for the 27 lap race on the 4.4 km with a longest straight of 600 meters.
“We’ve
Further proof will come on Sunday against the current MotoGP benchmark performer -- Stoner’s Ducati GP8.
Stoner, winner of ten races last season, has never finished on the podium at Jerez and he struggled with the set-up of the Ducati here last year, finishing fifth. A year on, both Stoner and Ducati have matured into fully-fledged world championship racers.
“This race won’t decide the championship and I’ll still be giving it 100% even though I’ve never been on the podium here,” Stoner said. “But our chassis is improved from last year and we have more acceleration which will helps punch out of the slower corners here.”
By contrast Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi is a seven-time winner at Jerez, including 2007, although this year he is racing on Bridgestone tires for the first time.
Rossi was missing late race grip in Qatar, where he finished fifth.
“I still need time to understand the marriage of the Bridgestone tires and the M1 but I expect a good result here, “ Rossi said. “I enjoyed the first five laps in Qatar but I had to be defensive after that. Here we will work to find a set-up to attack for the whole race, not defend.”
The first of the European races will also see a focus on the tire performance of the MotoGP rookies who performed so impressively in Qatar -- Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, and James Toseland.
Toseland and Tech3 Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards will continue with the standard M1 engine at Jerez and will not receive the upgrade to the latest pneumatic valve motor until the next race in Estoril. There had been some hope that Yamaha would advance the engine upgrade following Toseland’s sixth-place finish as a rookie in the Qatar night race.
And after a two-week break at home in Miami training in the sun, American John Hopkins reports that he is still to regain 100% fitness from the abductor muscle he injured at Phillip island in January.
“Scans show the injury is still there but I’ve been raining hard and despite the problem I’m 100% ready for the race,” Hopkins said.
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