Hayden: “We only had time to put on the rear slick”

Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team) had another impressive day at Phillip Island as he comes back from WorldSBK to stand in for injured Dani Pedrosa - after topping a rain-interrupted FP4, the American gained direct entry to Q2 and then took P7 in the final shootout. With the track drying and the clock counting down, Hayden first went out on inters before coming back in to switch to slicks – but not having enough time left to complete the change. The 2006 MotoGP™ World Champion then therefore set his fastest lap on a rear slick and intermediate front – the same combination as Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) in P2 – and starts just ahead of his 2017 teammate at Honda World Superbike Team, Stefan Bradl (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini).

Nicky Hayden (P7): “Today has been another day of changeable conditions. We tested different tyres to see the possibilities we had. FP4 wasn’t really very useful, but it was nice to see my name up there again after so long, and I enjoyed it. In Q2 we started with intermediate tyres and then we changed to slicks, but we only had time to put on the rear so I think seventh position is good. Obviously you always want to be higher up, but it was all very tough. Now I hope to have some dry laps in the warm-up tomorrow to collect data and improve some aspects for the race. Apart from the weather, everything is going very well so I hope to do a good job for the team and repay the trust they’ve placed in me here in Australia.”