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Hayden 'settling in' at Ducati

New Ducati signing Nicky Hayden says he is still settling into the style of his GP9 after setting the fastest time in the wet second day of testing at Valencia

The American, one of just seven riders to take part in the shortened second day, says he has a lot of hard to work to do before he is ready to match teammate Casey Stoner's pace in dry conditions.

"We haven't really played around with the setting too much because at the moment the most important thing is to try and adapt to the bike, the tyres, the team and their way of working and communicating," he said after yesterday's test. "I have to be careful not to speak too fast or use too much slang!

"Joking aside, I know I have a lot of hard work to do but I'm ready for it and so is the team.

"I haven't asked for too many changes because Casey has already shown what this bike can do and now it's up to me to do the same."

Hayden added that he was disappointed not to have had more dry running on the Italian machine, but said that testing in the wet was still useful.

"I would have preferred to have another dry day today because we still had a lot of things to try with the bike but at least I got chance to get a first feel for it in the wet," he said. "We've seen with the way the rain has followed us around this season how important it is to have experience in these conditions.

"After my first run I said to myself, "wow, you're so slow!" But then we made some small changes and I felt better."

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