Nicky Hayden delighted with Casey Stoner partnership

Nicky Hayden believes his good rapport with factory Ducati team-mate Casey Stoner will bolster his hopes of being a success on the new GP9 next season in MotoGP.

The American is looking forward to building on his already solid relationship with Stoner after contact with Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa was non-existent.

Stoner is too hoping to benefit from having Hayden alongside him having struggled to communicate with Italian flop Marco Melandri last season.

Hayden said: “Casey and I have always gotten on pretty well even from years past. And I think we have similar backgrounds coming from outside of the European championship, coming from far away and doing dirt track.

“I don’t want to give you any hard luck stories, but we weren’t exactly born into Grand Prix. I think we’re obviously very competitive people and want to beat other, but at the same time, we’re both man enough to be able to not be sore losers or anything like that.

“So far, I think he’s gone above and beyond to make me feel welcome. Obviously this year I hope we can work together. It’s not like right now I’m going to be able to help him a whole lot.

“Hopefully in the future we can bounce ideas off each other and work together to make a stronger team.”