MotoGP Sepang: Nicky Hayden “Too bad about retiring”

Nicky Hayden was probably having the best race of the year in Sepang when the engine of his Ducati GP13 "abandoned" him. A real shame for Kentucki Kid, in his fourth last race aboard the Borgo Panigale bike. The problem occurred on the eighth lap, when he was fighting with the Yamaha SAT of Bradley Smith's Team Tech 3.

“It's a real shame because yesterday, before the fourth free practice session, together with the team we had made good progress with the bike. Qualifying didn't go as well, but this morning I lapped faster than I ever had all weekend and my race pace wasn't bad either. On the grid I was in eleventh place and I immediately gained a few positions and was having my best race in a long time. I managed to get away from Dovi quite easily and had caught Smith, who however was faster than me at certain points of the circuit. When braking the last corner, I heard a strange noise. I was hoping it was his bike, but when I opened the throttle, it was clear that the problem was mine. Now it will be up to the engineers in Bologna to further analyze the engine to see what the real problem was. It's a shame for both me and the team to start the hat-trick like this.”

Photos: Alessandro Giberti