Rain and standing water initially ruled out any useful track time, but the downpour eased in the afternoon and 2006 world champion Hayden took the opportunity to evaluate wet-weather engine settings, traction control adjustments and machine set-up on his factory Honda RC212V. Due to the conditions, team-mate
Dani Pedrosa elected not to ride.
"We certainly raced on the right day here at Sepang because most of today the rain was strong and steady. Then at the last moment it lightened up enough to get out on track and do some testing in the wet," began Nicky. " It was useful because I haven't exactly been setting the world on fire in the rain this season. We evaluated a few engine setting variations and actually found some adjustments that were well worth our time. We probably could have done with the dry time, but you've got to take what you can get.
"I got two bikes pretty filthy here riding in the rain today, so thanks to my guys for sticking around and working hard as always. Hopefully I can give them a good result at Valencia to repay them for all the work they've done this year," added Hayden, who finished ninth in Sunday's race after running off track while trying to overtake
Toni Elias for sixth.
"I'm really looking forward to Valencia because, looking back to yesterday's race, the ninth place result wasn't good but my pace and my rhythm was so much better and I'm quite happy about the lap times I was able to run. It gives me some good confidence going into the last race of the year," concluded the American.
The season ending Valencian Grand Prix takes place on Sunday November 4.
