Tyre choice crucial admits Nicky Hayden

American Nicky Hayden believes tyre choice will play an even more important factor in this weekend’s Australian GP at Phillip Island.

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Hayden is hoping that Michelin doesn’t have a repeat of a nightmare winter test session that the French factory endured back in February, where the Repsol Honda rider struggled with temperature issues.

The Kentucky rider, who will join Ducati’s factory team in less than a month, said: “I’ve had some good results here and I think it is one of the best tracks in the world. But it’s probably a lot about tyres this weekend.

“We need to certainly work with Michelin to find the best choice for the left and right side because you got to find a combination of tyre that works well on both. When we tested here in February we had a bad test here and it was probably the worst test for Michelin.

“We were having a big problem with temperature so we got a lot of different options for this weekend. Fingers crossed we will have something. I think it will be much better.”