Hayden sure he can adapt to Ducati

Casey Stoner has comfortably out-paced recent teammates Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi as they struggled to adapt their riding style to the powerful Ducati, and although Hayden did not threaten the top of the timesheets during his initial Ducati tests, he believes he will be better suited to the machine than his predecessors.

"So far everything has gone really well," he said.

"Obviously I need to get faster in order to be truly competitive but I already love the bike. I can't say it's easy to ride, it gets pretty loose on corner exit sometimes but the engine is powerful and that is important, especially in a race situation.

"The chassis is nice and stiff so you get plenty of feedback and I like the feeling with the front, which is really stable in the fast corners.

"So far we have only had two test sessions at Valencia and Jerez, which are tight and twisty tracks, and I think that at places like Malaysia and Qatar it will be even better."

Hayden has had a lean time since winning the 2006 title, taking only five podiums in his final two seasons with Honda. He said he was keeping his expectations for his first year at Ducati under control.

"I still have a lot of faith in myself and in what I'm capable of," he said. "The first objective is to get back to the same level I was at in 2006, challenging consistently for the podium and trying to start winning races again."

The American added that he expected to form a strong partnership with Stoner.

"I'm happy to be working with Casey - we've known each other for a few years now, you could say we've got similar backgrounds having not come up through European competition and having started out racing in dirt-track," said Hayden.

"We're both competitive and we're going to want to beat one another but we'll also work together to make a strong team."

Stoner echoed Hayden's sentiments.

"I'm really happy with the addition of Nicky to the team," he said. "He has always been kind to me, even when I was racing in the smaller classes, and I think we can work well together.

"The communication between us is great and I think we can work together on fixing certain situations and getting the most out of the GP9 so that we can both be competitive."