Josh Hayes enjoys 'scary' MotoGP debut at wet Valencia

The 36-year-old is standing in for the injured Colin Edwards at Tech 3 Yamaha this weekend, and impressed by taking 10th place in the afternoon session. He had no experience of either a MotoGP bike or the Valencia track before today.

"My first day in MotoGP has been very difficult and quite scary at times to be honest," said Hayes.

"Before I went out this morning I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my life.

"I was happy with my lap times this morning in tricky conditions but then in the full wet this afternoon it meant it was quite a scary introduction to MotoGP.

"Although I've not experienced the full potential of a MotoGP bike because of the wet conditions, it is obvious that the Tech 3 Yamaha is a very good motorcycle and the team has done an excellent job to try and make me comfortable."

Hayes stayed on track without pitting throughout the afternoon session and notched up 24 laps.

"All I had to do was ride the machine and try to improve," he said. "Right now it is not so much about the set-up of the bike, it is just me learning the bike and I will continue that process tomorrow."

Although his performance in the wet has been very strong, Hayes said he was concerned about not getting enough dry running as the weekend progressed.

"I just hope that at some point I will get to have a dry practice so I can get to grips with the carbon brakes," he said.

"I don't want to be going into the race on Sunday having to learn to ride in the dry and also adjust to the carbon brakes after two wet days. That would be the worse scenario for me but I enjoyed today a lot."