Hayden, who over the past two seasons has won over the Ducatisti with his positive and determined attitude, currently lies sixth in the MotoGP World Championship standings and is confident for two successful seasons ahead, which he will tackle with his trademark enthusiasm.

Filippo Preziosi – Ducati Corse Director
“We are really pleased that Nicky will be staying with us for the next two years. It is no secret that he is a rider who never gives up, his whole racing history shows it. As a person his tenacity is an example for us all because he shows us that nothing is impossible if you truly believe. His progress since arriving at Ducati has been impressive and I am sure this trend will continue in the future. Nicky is also a special rider because of his attention to every detail and for him having Valentino as his team-mate means a huge contribution towards the development of an even more competitive motorcycle. I think it is these characteristics that have won the hearts of all the Ducatisti and that is the reason why a Ducati is the bike for him right now.”

Nicky Hayden – Ducati MotoGP Team
“I am very proud to be signing for Ducati again. Last year I  felt like I rode for Ducati but now I really feel as if I am a Ducati rider. The team, sponsors and Ducati fans have really taken me in and supported me a lot and I really hope to pay them back with the results they deserve. Next year I’ll be teamed with some guy named Rossi who knows a little something about bikes! We’re going to have a strong squad – I won’t predict results but I have no doubt this team will have some real passion, real worth ethic and a lot of fun. It is the start of a new era at Ducati and it is an honour for me to be a part of it.”

On a personal note, I can’t wait to see Hayden & Rossi teaming up again! Ducati has got to have one of the strongest line-up’s going into the new specs for 2012!

Check out more on Nick’s official website.

The pair will start in fifth and sixth places for the first British motorcycle grand prix to be held at the Northamptonshire track since 1986, with Hayden lapping just 0.062sec quicker than 20-time race winner Stoner.

Hayden beat Stoner for the first time, in a race they both finished as team-mates, at Jerez earlier this year.

“We made a step forward today,” said Hayden. “Yesterday I knew that we weren’t as far off as we seemed and even though we didn’t quite have the right feeling for the conditions a few small changes have helped make us faster.

“We’ll find out exactly where we are when the lights go out tomorrow.”

Press opportunities held away from the racetrack often see reporters from a range of publications invited to interview MotoGP riders to raise wider publicity for an upcoming race.

That in turn means the riders often face questions about subjects other than racing and, during last Wednesday’s press event at the Lords cricket ground, this light-hearted exchange took place between 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden and a non-motorsports reporter.

It’s safe to say Nicky would rather have been talking racing…

Quite a few of the girls were excited about you coming here. What do you think of that side of the sport?

Hayden:
Yeah, I mean I don’t [laughs nervously]. I’m not a playboy or nothing, I’m just into racing… I mean, any guy that says they don’t like [the attention] would be lying somewhat, but I don’t get too caught up in that part of it.

Is there a Mrs Hayden?

No, no. Single. [Pause]. Make sure you print that too: ‘Single’. Don’t leave that part out!

Single and looking?

Yeah [shrugs] I’m a 28-year-old guy. I mean, I’m not out looking with a flashlight, scraping every street up and down or anything!

Not yet?

No… but, you know.

The American qualified 16th and finished 12th last season, a result that contributed to what had become a difficult start to life as a Ducati rider.

However, twelve months on and Hayden has revived his fortunes, gelling well with the GP10 to take on team leader Casey Stoner and sit fifth in the standings with a trio of fourth place finishes to his name.

With this in mind, he is confident he can make amends for last year with a much better performance for his employers.

“I can’t wait to go to Mugello and banish the memory of last year, when I was quite slow in front of the Italian fans and so many people from Ducati. Actually things went better in the race than they had done in practice but then I suffered a problem with my rear brake and the result was anything but good.

“We’re going into a run of races that could be quite decent for us and we’re confident. Mugello is a circuit that can be really nice to ride or really tough, depending on whether you can get your bike working well and have a good set-up.

“If you manage that you can have some serious fun. I’m expecting to see a lot of Ducati fans so hopefully I can have fun and they can too.”

“Fourth place is no disaster but I was hoping to stay closer to the top three towards the end and put up a bit of a fight. I’m not happy to be nine seconds adrift but we’re trying to build something here and we’ve had another solid weekend. The team, the bike, everything has been great this weekend but we just fell a couple of tenths short on race day. To be honest I thought we might find a little extra for the race, like we did in Qatar, but it wasn’t to be. Like I said yesterday my guys worked like dogs to put me in this position today and we’ve got more to do tomorrow so I want to give a big thanks to them. This is the Ducati factory team and we don’t jump up and down at fourth place but we’ll take it. We got some great data to work from that should help us be stronger at Le Mans and hopefully we can keep this upward trend going.”

The American expressed his happiness with the new Desmosedici GP10 after the race, and now says he is feeling a lot more settled on the machine after entering his second season with the factory Ducati team.

“I just feel a lot more comfortable on it and also with the team. It’s the second year with the team after a long time on Honda bikes,” said Hayden. “It was a big change last year and I certainly didn’t adapt the way I wanted to, but this year things seem to be going a lot better. The communication with the team is a lot better than it was last year and I like the bike.”

Expanding, Hayden continued: “I would say the engine certainly is smoother, and has a better feel when you open the power and try to accelerate out of the corner. Now I need to go and be fast for a whole weekend from when we show up on Friday, and at a track we haven’t had two days of testing at, like Qatar. That was one of my targets for this off-season; to improve that. I guess we’ll find out at Jerez if that’s the case.”

Hayden’s discussion of the comfort he now feels as he goes into his second year with Ducati has something to do with the methods of operation. He and team-mate Casey Stoner work closely together, sharing information to help one another.

“Some things that work for him won’t work for me,” said Hayden. “But there are other times where he’ll come across something that works, and it’ll work for me. With the limited amount of track time we have this year and last year, even, you use every bit of information you can get.”

It is a process that spreads across the satellite Ducati teams as well, as Hayden added: “We share data and anything we want. To their credit, it’s open book around there. Even between Mika Kallio’s (Pramac Racing) crew chief to Héctor Barberá’s (Páginas Amarillas Aspar), they all work out of the same truck. Everybody’s playing for the same team around there, to try to beat the other manufacturers. There are no secrets, nothing like that.”

The elevation of Vittoriano Guareschi to Team Manager, whilst still maintaining his responsibilities as Test rider, has also been an added factor says Hayden.

“Vito has stepped in and has done a great job so far, and I’ve really been impressed with some of the things he has done. I’ve been a supporter of his from the beginning. A lot of people thought it was going to be too much for a guy with no real experience in that position. So far we’re off to a good start, and I think he’s a big asset to our team. I think we’ve got a good set-up.”

As the season progresses the new six-engines per rider rule will also play a part in how each team manages its campaign. Hayden touched on the subject and discussed how Ducati were preparing, after very briefly using a second engine in Qatar.

“The team has a plan for that,” he said. “On some weekends I’ll ride both bikes, but it just so happened in Qatar that we had tested there; we already had a pretty decent set-up. I actually just had one bike working well, and I didn’t really ever take the other one out except early on Sunday. That was just to do a lap to make sure it ran well in case I needed to jump on it for anything. But we’ll be using both bikes at most tracks a lot more frequently.”

Both Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden have shown their appreciation for the technical modifications brought to the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 by Filippo Preziosi, in particular the new “big bang” engine. Both riders are looking to repeat their excellent preseason form when they take to the Losail circuit for the first time on Friday evening, as the 2010 season finally roars into life.

Nicky Hayden, Ducati MotoGP Team

“Finally the first race is here! We seem to have started later than everybody else and I don’t know if I could have waited any longer! Testing went fairly well – we met some of our objectives and still have a lot of work to do in other areas but overall I’m satisfied. We established a good base setting in Qatar and hopefully we can use that for the first race. It has been a couple of years since I made a good start to the season but I feel in good shape, the team are fully behind me and I can’t wait to get started.”

The team launch and all the events at Wroom were great we had a good time. I had a buddy from the OWB who went with me.  He’d never been outside the States so he got to see how some of the other parts of the world do things.

A few days they worked us pretty heavy but we also had a few mellow days where we able to do some skiing and have some fun.

The highlight was for sure winning the cart race; I know it was just for fun but we all pretty competitive guys so a win is a win. It was pretty cool being on live TV in Italy and the all the locals on the hill side watching.

Actually the car race were I got second was prob more fun cuz it had jump and after bout the 3rd lap there was car parts and hay bales all over the place, it was too funny!

I’m happy to report my skiing has improved slightly but its I still along way off being ready for any Olympic medals. Anyway I’ve been back at my place in California doing some training with the bro’s, unfortunately the last 2 days all its done has rained. So that has put a hold on some activities but we’ve still been able to get some work done.

Before I go want to thank everybody at Wrooom and the Team because this was the 20th anniversary of the event and they really stepped it up and put on a great week it was a honor to be there.

Also want to keep everyone affected by the earthquake in Haiti in our prayers, that’ is sad situation and my heart goes out to them and their families.

I got a photo shoot for Tissot tomorrow then a red eye to New York (concrete jungle where dreams come true) for Ducati and the bike show…. peace

Click here to watch Nicky blow away the Ferrari drivers in the snow kart race.

The 20th edition of the Wrooom Press Ski Meeting concluded on Friday with two spectacular races on the frozen lake in Madonna di Campiglio.

The first race, in Panda 4×4 cars, was won by Felipe Massa and the Brazilian was joined on the podium by Ducati Marlboro MotoGP stars Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden, with Fernando Alonso crossing the line fourth ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella.

The second was a go-kart race dominated from start to finish by Hayden, who shared the podium champagne with Massa and Stoner, with Alonso unable to make the finish after crashing into the protective barriers.

The exhibition races were enjoyed by a huge crowd, who took the opportunity to show their support for the MotoGP and F1 stars as they went head-to-head in their machines, resplendent in the colours of each individual driver.

With the Wrooom event coming to a close, the Ducati Marlboro Team’s next appointment is a three-day test in preparation for the new season from 3-5 February in Malaysia.