Marlboro Ducati's Nicky Hayden is happy with the improvements he made with the Desmosedici GP9 at Jerez's MotoGP test but acknowledges there is still a lot of work to be done.
The 2006 MotoGP Champion, who switched to Ducati from Honda after the Valencia round, was tenth fastest on today's timesheets but is still getting used to riding on Bridgestone rubber.
"It has been nice to get back on the bike and get on with the job in decent conditions. The new surface is perfect, the bumps have disappeared and the grip improved with every lap," said Hayden.
"They've done a great job here at Jerez. I'm quite happy with my feeling with the bike. The lap times came down with virtually every outing and that's positive, even though I'm still clearly a good way off the pace. We've got a lot of work ahead but the team is really close and we know that bike has the potential, so all we can do is keep working.
"Both tyre specs that we tried today worked well, although the softer one was obviously the preferable option in these temperatures. They've got no problem in terms of durability and I'm slowly starting to get used to the feeling the Bridgestones give back. Hopefully the good weather continues tomorrow."
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