Nicky Hayden will start his first Japanese Grand Prix without the pressure of being a ‘home’ Honda rider this weekend, as the American’s attention is instead focussed on getting up to speed with his new Ducati machinery.
“My first GP with Ducati didn’t exactly go as I’d hoped but we took some positives out of it - I lapped quicker in the second half of the race than I had done all weekend and above all I felt comfortable on the bike,” he said.
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“Hopefully this will help us work out what it is exactly that I need to improve my feeling with the bike because being so far off the pace in practice wasn’t cool!”
“I’m really keen to do well in this race and even though I’ve always had a kind of love-hate relationship with Motegi - with some good results and some bad ones - it is always a special grand prix.”
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