Hayden admits surprise at front row spot

Hayden admits surprise at front row spot

Saturday, 09 October 2010

The Ducati Team rider only missed out on pole position for the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix by one-tenth of a second.

Hayden thrilled with qualifying effort

A fantastic qualifying practice display by Nicky Hayden placed the American on the front row of the grid at Sepang, after he took over a second off his best lap from the practice sessions to set the second best time on Saturday in Malaysia.

Timing in with a best effort of 2’01.637 the Ducati Team rider made an improvement of 1.212s on his previous best, and only missed out on pole to Jorge Lorenzo by one-tenth of a second.

“This is a bit of a surprise, I didn't expect to be on the front row today,” said Hayden, who had led the session with his best lap until Lorenzo snatched top spot at the end. “We only missed pole by one tenth but don't anybody feel sorry for us, we're pretty happy!”

Hayden, for whom this will be a second front-row start of the season, continued: “The lap itself was obviously a good one, I don't think I could have got any more out of myself or the bike, but overall we've done a good job today. We were struggling yesterday but we went back to a setting that worked for us in the test and even though I didn't get the lap time this morning I told the guys not to make too many changes to the bike because I felt comfortable and knew I could improve purely through riding.”

“Once again my thanks go to the team because everybody knows it's tough on the riders in this heat but it's tough for them too and they're doing a great job,” he concluded.

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