Ducati's Nicky Hayden took advantage of a drying track in the final minutes of MotoGP testing at Jerez today to post the fastest time of a 1'40.755 after weather conditions changed from rain and wind to allow some riders to complete useful laps.

Avintia Racing's CRT man Ivan Silva had led for most of the day after he clocked a 1'43.613 early on as the rest of the MotoGP pack either looked on from their garages and retired to motorhomes to escape the elements.

But the track dried out as half past five ticked round and Hayden, Ben Spies and Karel Abraham all ventured out, along with Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera, to try and get some meaningful dry laps in. Abraham led the way but was deposed by Hayden just as the flag marshals started to pack up for the day.

“It’s a shame about the weather because I’d like to take advantage of as much time as possible to work on the bike, since I lost so much time in the past few months. That’s how it was today though, and it does no good to complain, especially since I had the chance to try the GP12 in the rain for the first time, improving my feeling little by little. We took a long break when the track started to dry out, and we put on the slicks at the end, even though there were still some wet patches out there," said Hayden.

"I was able to do a couple exits to try the two little changes that we’d planned yesterday. Considering that the conditions weren’t perfect, it’s positive that we quickly come close to my best time from yesterday. Now we hope the weather will let us work well tomorrow, because we’d like to improve some details before Qatar, especially with traction in the fast corners.”

Most of the front runners did go out in the rain to get a feel for their wet settings with Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo turning in 25 and 28 laps respectively while Casey Stoner did three but was able, in that time, to just stay ahead of Valentino Rossi who did a further 15…

Jerez MotoGP test day two - conditions drying

1 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1:40.755 - - 40

2 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1:41.661 +0.906 +0.906 39

3 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1:41.726 +0.065 +0.971 26

4 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:42.711 +0.985 +1.956 27

5 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1:43.288 +0.577 +2.533 35

6 Ivan SILVA Avintia Racing MotoGP 1:43.613 +0.325 +2.858 37

7 Franco BATTAINI Ducati Team 1:44.264 +0.651 +3.509 48

8 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:44.761 +0.497 +4.006 9

9 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1:44.969 +0.208 +4.214 30

10 Danilo PETRUCCI Came Iodaracing Project 1:45.336 +0.367 +4.581 24

11 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1:47.968 +2.632 +7.213 26

12 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1:49.822 +1.854 +9.067 25

13 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1:50.088 +0.266 +9.333 28

14 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:51.127 +1.039 +10.372 15

15 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:51.702 +0.575 +10.947 16

16 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1:51.772 +0.070 +11.017 12

17 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda 1:51.778 +0.006 +11.023 23

18 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1:51.856 +0.078 +11.101 3

19 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1:51.910 +0.054 +11.155 18

20 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1:52.397 +0.487 +11.642 8

21 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1:57.718 +5.321 +16.963 8

22 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Racing MotoGP -.--- - - 0