A week after clinching his and Ducati's first podium of the year in the MotoGP at Jerez, the Kentucky Kid took the GP12 for a few laps on the same circuit in Spain, aiming to gather as much data as possible for the Italian engineers to work with in the months to come. And, at the end of 61 laps of running, Hayden was delighted with how the bike worked at its first outing.
“It’s an honor 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,” admitted Hayden, whose testing on Sunday was affected by bad weather in the morning.
“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 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.”
Hayden was the third and last rider to test the Ducati GP12 last weekend, following full-day programmes from Vittoriano Guareschi and Franco Battaini on Thursday, followed by Valentino Rossi on Friday.
“First of all, I’d like to thank everyone at Ducati,” said Ducati's technical director Filippo Preziosi, “because thanks to their hard work and expertise, 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 prioritize the work we have left to carry out.”
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