I know what you’re thinking: How much different could a Ducati be from a Honda? But I’ve got to tell you, last year’s Desmosedici, the GP9, was completely different from anything I’d ever ridden, as far as the feeling I got from the bike and trying to find its limits on the racetrack.
Now, however, having ridden the new GP10, I can honestly say that I’m really starting to enjoy this bike.
I won’t lie: Last year was tough. We made a change within the team after just three or four races because, as a team, we were going nowhere. We weren’t communicating well. The guys were good, hard workers—sharp engineers. But they weren’t my people. We brought in Juan Martinez as my crew chief, and he got everything calmed down. Juan has a lot of experience and he’s a leader; that’s one of his strong points. Now, I feel a lot more at home.
“Jorge Lorenzo was faster than Valentino Rossi a lot of times last season,” said Hayden. “But Rossi’s racecraft is amazing. On top of being hungry and an unbelievable fighter, he knows how to manage races.”
I’ve never doubted my skills. If you doubt yourself and stop believing, then you’re never going to get out of that hole—you’re done. Sure, it wasn’t fun at times last year. I wasn’t doing a good-enough job. But I never thought, “Wow, I’m not going to be able to do this.”
I could see my teammate, Casey Stoner, doing it correctly. Yeah, he’s the only guy in the world who’s ever been able to really ride that bike. But I knew we could do it. When I would overlay my data with Casey’s, there were always places on the track, certain sections, where I was just as quick. But there were always one or two places where I really struggled, where I couldn’t find the answers, and I would lose a second or a second and a half per lap.
Last year, I had a lot of bad luck. At Qatar, in the first qualifying session of the first race of the year, I had a big crash. Then we went to Japan and I got taken out in the first lap. Misano, in Italy, was probably my worst race, as far as a letdown. Sitting on the grid, I was the most excited that I’d been all year. I was finally enjoying riding the bike and working with the team. As far as outright speed, that was the fastest, the closest to the front, that I had been all season. I even passed Jorge Lorenzo in the pre-race warm-up. Then, bam! At Phillip Island, a track I’d waited all season for, I got knocked off in the first corner. Man, I know it sounds like an excuse, but when you get taken out on the first lap on three different occasions…
Indy certainly was the highlight of my season. It was my home Grand Prix and my only podium of the year. That saved my job. Ducati saw progress and seemed to want me back, and I wanted to be there. Also, Lorenzo didn’t come to Ducati; he re-signed with Yamaha. I had a couple of other good options going, but I didn’t want to give up. That’s not my style. I’m committed to making it work, to be able to say I could ride a Ducati.
Casey and I rode the prototype for this year’s bike—the GP10—in Valencia, Spain, after the last round of the 2009 season. So the first test of the year this past February in Sepang, Malaysia, wasn’t my first time on the bike. I would have liked to have been faster—I ended up eighth-quickest—but I was able to get up to speed quicker than in the past and was more consistent.
I get caught up in lap times just like anybody else. But, really, there’s a lot more going on—who’s doing those laps with a tow, who’s got the fuel turned up, who’s running what tire and who’s banging out laps at 2 o’clock in the afternoon on used tires when the temperature is in the triple digits.
The big thing for everybody this year is the engine rule change: six engines for 18 races? That’s crazy. Even Red Bull Rookies Cup kids go through more engines than that. It’s going to be a big, big test for the engineers and manufacturers.
Ducati’s new engine—specifically, the big-bang firing order—is our biggest deal. I like this engine. The torque off the bottom, the way it puts the power down, is certainly smoother, more controllable, and the bike is more rideable; it’s easier to find the limit.
There’s not a big difference with the first touch of the throttle. From about 10 to 60 percent throttle, coming off corners, that’s where it’s smoother. Now, it’s easier to control wheelies with the throttle. Once the wheel comes up, you can just knock back the throttle a little bit and ride it out. We haven’t really lost any top speed, either; at the first test in Malaysia, I was fastest in the rain.
Hayden, Ben Spies (seen here) and Colin Edwards posted three of the five quickest times at the second pre-season test in Malaysia. “Two cowboys from Texas and a hillbilly from Kentucky – three of the fastest guys in the world,” grinned Hayden.
Ducati always planned to go in this direction. When they built the 990, they started with the screamer and, after some years of development, went back to big bang. In the last couple of years, the engine has been so good; the focus has been on making the chassis behave.
I sometimes watch myself on TV and, believe me, it doesn’t look like it feels. You don’t see how much the bikes wheelie and what a problem it is for the riders. At the Sachsenring in Germany, for example, coming off the last corner, over the hill, I’m halfway down the front straightway before I can really open it up, tuck in and not have to weight the front end and stand on the rear brake.
We haven’t narrowed down which swingarm—aluminum or carbon fiber—we’re going to use; we still have a couple versions to test. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. For me, the aluminum is better for initial edge grip, especially in slow corners with that first touch of the throttle. Also, once the tire breaks loose, I can find traction a little better with the aluminum arm. The carbon arm is more stable in fast corners; it’s better when you have grip. Ducati would rather use carbon—it’s more consistent and easier to make.
The new Öhlins fork is another step. The test team tried it last year and thought about bringing it in for us to try, but we already had enough going on. Also, where the subframe bolts to the frame, there’s one more mount this year. It wasn’t something we asked for; the test team liked it.
These days, the test team is really important because track time is like gold to us. Normally, when you’ve got a good bike, you roll out on Friday and that setup works well. The more you screw with some bikes, the worse you make them. Last year at Laguna Seca, on Saturday morning, we were trying a new seat position—changing weight distribution. That’s not a good sign. Same goes for the transmission: If you come by my box and we’ve got the gearbox out during qualifying, you know it’s probably not going the way we planned it at the team meeting on Thursday.
I get on really well with Vittoriano Guareschi, our new team manager. Not having Livio Suppo in the box is a big change for us. But Vitto has a really good relationship with Ducati Corse General Manager Filippo Prezioso; they’re on the phone all the time. Filippo can’t come to every race due to his condition—he’s in a wheelchair.
Vitto knows our bike. He’s been there since Day One. He’s fast, too. He’s been on the podium in World Superbike races. He lost the World Supersport championship a couple times by a point or two. I relate well to guys who have been there and felt the bullets fly.
I’m going to miss Livio. He was a huge part of the team—a real workaholic. He wanted to make sure things were done right, but too much stuff got put on his plate. After a few years of that kind of effort, I think he was just worn out.
At the first test in Malaysia, something wasn’t right with my arm. I couldn’t do more than about four laps at a time; I didn’t have strength to brake. I’ve had arm-pump surgery before, back when I raced in the AMA series, and, apparently, scar tissue had developed around the muscle.
Ducati teammate Casey Stoner (27) and Honda title-rival Dani Pedrosa (26) are two of the series’ smallest riders. “Weight matters for aerodynamics, fuel consumption, braking” said Hayden. “Look at Pedrosa: His hands and feet are so small. I’d trade him right now – happily.”
Fifteen days before the second test in Malaysia, I flew to Spain and got cleaned up. My arm was in a sling up until two or three days before the test, but the doctor gave me the green light to ride. It’s not like he was mending a bone; he just cut out scar tissue.
At the test, about every hour, I had to open the bandage to let the fluid that had built up in the wound drain out. We joked that I had a valve; I’d uncover it and the fluid would drip out. But I would be lying if I said it slowed me down. I’ve ridden with worse pain, that’s for sure.
Malaysia is a special track; that’s why we test there. It has so much of everything—a couple of bumpy corners, three or four hard-braking sections, some tight corners, three or four fast corners, both slow and high-speed changes of direction. Normally, when a bike works well around there, it works anywhere.
The Ducati can be quite finicky. Sometimes, you can make a huge change and you won’t feel anything. Other times, little bitty changes will be just right. At the end of the first day, we changed the head-pipe—steering head—position, moved the weight around a little bit, did some minor stuff with the suspension and were able to get better grip. In the long, fast corners, I had less chatter, was able to carry a lot more speed and go a lot faster. I was able to find about a second and a half, and that was really encouraging.
After the test, I went straight back to Spain. The doctor did some scans, and it looks like I didn’t do any further damage to my arm.
Look, I don’t want to get carried away. It was just testing, and I know Lorenzo wasn’t there because he was hurt. Nonetheless, it was a positive test for me and the team. Plus, it’s a lot more fun to get on the plane when you’re third-quickest, just four-tenths off the front rather than 1.4 seconds. Hopefully, I can do those lap times when it counts—when we line up in the middle of the night for the first race of the season in Qatar.
