Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda’s Nicky Hayden ended his one-off appearance in MotoGP this season in the points after battling his way to 15th at MotorLand Aragon.
The former MotoGP World Champion and WorldSBK race winner was called up to replace Jack Miller, who was ruled unfit to rider after suffering several fractures in his hand in San Marino, a hangover injury from his Red Bull Ring crash in August.
Hayden was well aware that he was being plunged in at the deep-end coming into the weekend – he’d never ridden this particular RCV or experienced the new unified electronics package before, nor the new Michelin tyres – but was still taken by surprise at just how difficult the experience was.
Having not made the progress from FP1 to FP2 he’d have liked, Hayden was much happier on Saturday having qualified 19th and just under two tenths of a second adrift of teammate Tito Rabat.
In the race, the American was embroiled in a battle for the final points paying position with Rabat, Ducati’s Michele Pirro and the two Aspar riders. Whilst unable to quite stick with Pirro and Eugene Laverty, Hayden was able to fend off a challenge from Yonny Hernandez in the closing stages to take an impressive 15th.
Happy with his efforts, Hayden was left a little disappointed that he didn’t have another race that weekend like he would have in WorldSBK, as he reckons he’d have been able to use the experience gained to much better effect and improve on his result.
“I would have to say that the race was my best part of the weekend. I underestimated on Friday how long it would take to get up to speed with the package, particularly with the Michelin tyres and certainly the front tyre,” Hayden said.
“I started too far behind on Friday but in the race I was able to have a battle with Pirro, Barbera and Laverty who were all two seconds faster than me on the first day. I got a good start and really enjoyed battling with a few guys and the more laps I made the better I felt. I wish it was like World Superbikes and we got another chance to line up because I think with the experience gained I could do a better job. But all of us on the grid think like that.
“I’d hoped I’d come here and be more on the pace on Friday but that didn’t happen. I knew it was a just a one-off ride and I knew it was going to be extremely difficult with no testing but I came and gave it my all. It has been a good experience and I want to thank Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS for this opportunity. I was proud to work with such a great team.”
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