WorldSBK: More Time Needed For Nicky’s CBR
Gordon Ritchie | February 20, 2017
Hayden still with work to do to reach the front
Nicky Hayden (Red Bull Honda WorldSBK) and his team worked as hard as the changeable opening day conditions allowed, and found some small improvements compared to the most recent tests of the new Fireblade in Portimao recently. “I would say we are a little bit better than we were at Portimao,” Stated Hayden. “At the moment we cannot draw too many conclusion because the weather was so unpredictable but we definitely smoothed out some of the power delivery and the bike is reacting a little bit better. But this morning we were still trying to get the lap time to work and the sector time of the bikes so that the bike knows where it is on the track. Even playing with the rad(iator) positions. We would love to be here just fine-tuning race settings. But that is definitely not the case. Let’s see tomorrow.”
Day one was not the clean four hours of track time Hayden had hoped for. “It was more just frustrating because you would leave with rain tyres then over there in another part it is dry and then you come in and put slicks on and then literally once as soon as I crested the hill it was raining…: said Hayden. “Also one part of the track you start to push, then come over Lukey Heights and it is wet. It almost caught me out one time. But the track grip felt good considering all the rain. I think we should thank the MotoGP guys who laid down a lot of rubber; it is very grippy. But the wind was making it difficult and I was having some problems in the wind, especially over the hill before turn one. But it is the same for everybody.”
Bradl within striking distance
Hayden and his teammate Stefan Bradl were close together in the lap times after day one, hinting at a limit that the bike may have so far. Hayden said of their close quarters on the day one times, “I am not really sure of his comments at the moment and it has only been one session, but yes, my ideal time is about half a second better, but on the last lap the red flags came out. Regardless that is still going to be more than one second off the pace. We definitely have work to do but the main thing is that we still finding direction. We are still trying to do bigger changes.”
When asked how his bike now felt different from the 2016 model, Hayden said. “The bike is still in some ways a hybrid. There are still some of last year’s parts on this bike. The front feels lighter on this bike at the moment compared to last year’s bike. The grip feels good on the rear. I would say that the feeling is not so different from last year’s bike. Obviously the look is much nicer with this fairing and the updates on it. But we are not so far, as actual geometry and setup, a lot different. The aerodynamics at the moment are the same as the previous tests. We are going to try a different screen tomorrow. That is on the programme if we can get around to it, to provide a little more protection. The smaller fairing is nice of the change of direction but on the straight you catch a bit more air, but it does give it a more nimble feeling.”
Asked if he felt ready for the season to start, Hayden stated, “Of course we do not prepare to be unprepared but after we tested in Portimao and stuff it was pretty clear. I try to be positive but when the team gets the bike in the middle of January, how prepared can we really be?”