Marlboro Ducati's Nicky Hayden reckons he is looking forward to the challenge of the Sachsenring's spectacular Waterfall corner at this weekend's German MotoGP round.

The former World Champion says that although the first part of the circuit is tight, twisty and could cause his Desmosedici problems, the second half is more open and includes the breathtaking steep downhill left-hander which is also blind.

“We have made some real progress the last few weeks and I hope we can keep it going because bringing up the rear of the pack is not fun. We still have a big gap to the front guys so we have a lot of work to do to close that down and we must stay very focused," said Hayden.

"Germany is another small, twisty track with lap times almost exactly the same as Laguna – in fact they are the two shortest tracks on the tour - but it’s a track I like and where I have gone well at in the past. The first section is super tight and is the part I think will be the hardest for me on our bike, but I hope to be strong in the second half, which includes the ‘waterfall’ corner, which is about as good as it gets if you like fast, blind corners that take your breath away."