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The Repsol rider finished the official MotoGP test satisfied with the improvements on the chassis.

The weather forecast was fortunately wrong today, and in spite of the strong wind on the Spanish track throughout the day, the MotoGP riders were able to enjoy a completely dry track during the last test at Jerez. Now it is time for a few days' rest before heading for Qatar at the end of this month. Next 28th and 29th of Febuary the last 2008 pre-season tests will be held in preparation for the Qatar GP, with the peculiarity of being run during the night, the first nocturnal race in the history of the World Motorcycling Championship, which starts this year on March 9th.

After achieving the best time on Saturday and taking third place in yesterday's timed session, Nicky Hayden leaves the Jerez Circuit leading the time sheet. The Repsol rider was the only rider to achieve times below 1'39 over the three days of training, demonstrating the enormous potential of the Michelin qualification tyres. The American has also been working on the development of his RC212V 2008, with new improvements on the chassis. In total he completed 82 laps on the Andalusian track, again the rider to complete the most laps. His best lap was No. 81, with classification tyres. Hayden also ran a race simulation with satisfactory results according to the rider himself.

Teammate Dani Pedrosa was back in action this morning after he decided not to go on track yesterday due to the bad weather conditions. The strong wind today was also an invitation to be prudent, but Pedrosa did not want to miss the chance of completing another 35 laps on the Spanish track. For the Repsol Honda Team, today's training sessions were an exact copy of those held last Saturday. In spite of still feeling discomfort in his right hand, Pedrosa completed 35 laps, his fastest being lap 33, with a time practically identical to last Saturday's, only three tenths of a second behind.

Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 1m 38.848s (lap 81 of 82)
It's definitely been a really positive and productive three days. We had high hopes coming here because when we tested here in November the bike worked pretty good and Michelin tyres normally work good at Jerez, so this is a good track for us, also there's no big long straightaways. The wind here has made it tough, the conditions haven't been easy, but I do feel more comfortable on this year's bike in the wind. The team really worked hard and made some good moves and good decisions. We didn't make a lot of big changes, we just got closer to race settings, tried a couple of qualifiers and did a 25 lap run. The chassis seems to be working good and also the tyres are working good. We tried a few different tyre options, and we're still checking data between the 16 and 16.5 rears. But the show hasn't started yet, we'll find out what everybody's really got and what we're in for when we get to Qatar but we leave here pretty happy. At the Qatar tests we'll see how it is under the lights and dial everything in for the first race.

Dani Pedrosa, fastest lap: 1m 41.352s (lap 33 of 35)
It's definitely been a really positive and productive three days. We had high hopes coming here because when we tested here in November the bike worked pretty good and Michelin tyres normally work good at Jerez, so this is a good track for us, also there's no big long straightaways. The wind here has made it tough, the conditions haven't been easy, but I do feel more comfortable on this year's bike in the wind. The team really worked hard and made some good moves and good decisions. We didn't make a lot of big changes, we just got closer to race settings, tried a couple of qualifiers and did a 25 lap run. The chassis seems to be working good and also the tyres are working good. We tried a few different tyre options, and we're still checking data between the 16 and 16.5 rears. But the show hasn't started yet, we'll find out what everybody's really got and what we're in for when we get to Qatar but we leave here pretty happy. At the Qatar tests we'll see how it is under the lights and dial everything in for the first race.

Lap times - Jerez Test Day 3

 1.  Hayden       Repsol Honda Team          1:38.848 
 2.  Lorenzo      Fiat Yamaha Team           1:39.252
 3.  Dovizioso    JiR Team Scot MotoGP       1:39.313
 4.  De Puniet    LCR Honda MotoGP           1:39.351
 5.  Rossi        Fiat Yamaha Team           1:39.568
 6.  Toseland     Tech 3 Yamaha              1:39.727
 7.  Stoner       Ducati Marlboro Team       1:39.845
 8.  De Angelis   San Carlo Honda Gresini    1:39.932
 9.  Nakano       San Carlo Honda Gresini    1:40.333
10.  Capirossi    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP        1:40.442
11.  Vermeulen    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP        1:40.576
12.  West         Kawasaki Racing Team       1:41.026
13.  Guintoli     Alice Team                 1:41.177
14.  Melandri     Ducati Marlboro Team       1:41.292
15.  Elias        Alice Team                 1:41.311
16.  Pedrosa      Repsol Honda Team          1:41.699
17.  Canepa       Ducati Marlboro Team       1:42.160
18.  Hopkins      Kawasaki Racing Team       1:42.970
19.  Jacque       Kawasaki Racing Team       1:43.496
20.  Guareschi    Ducati Marlboro Team       1:45.597