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.”

Well done Nick and keep it upright!

Watch the video of the World Championship stars on a boat ride in Qatar.

Nicky was one of seven of the MotoGP riders who took part in a pre-race publicity boat ride event.

The final day before the start of the 2010 MotoGP season saw seven World Championship riders enjoy a trip in a traditional wooden Dhow boat, as MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden, Loris Capirossi and Héctor Barberá, Moto2 riders Kenny Noyes and Mashel Al Naimi, and 125cc title hopefuls Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró all took in the fantastic Doha skyline ahead of the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.

Stopping off at the Islamic Museum in Doha, the riders posed for photographs in front of the Qatar skyline following their voyage on the Dhow boat, which was used by pearl collectors in the past.

It was a fitting start to the Grand Prix event, in which Rizla Suzuki rider Capirossi will start a landmark 300th Grand Prix, whilst Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and Hayden were also both in excited moods as the action gets even closer. Ducati Marlboro man Hayden explained his aim for the season, and said he is “still not as close to the frontrunners as I want to be, but am happier going into the race. Last year’s 13th was not good enough, but I’m more confident now”.

Watch Nicky’s interview to MotoGP.com

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.”

Click here to watch Hayden and Stoner unveil the Desmosedici GP10

There was a packed schedule again on the third day of Wrooom 2010 at Madonna di Campiglio on Wednesday, with Claudio Domenicali coming under the spotlight in a morning press conference. The General Manager of Ducati Motor later joined Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden on the spectacular Patascoss slope to unveil the new Ducati Desmosedici GP10, the Ducati Marlboro Team’s latest weapon in the chase for the MotoGP title, against the dramatic backdrop of the Dolomites – recently added by Unesco to their World Natural Heritage list.

“The main changes to the bike are based on the rule changes, so the major part of the work was done precisely to make it perform better using only six engines for the entire championship,” explained Domenicali. “It’s a very important difference, because we were used to using more-or-less one engine per race, so to switch from 18 engines to six is a very important adjustment. All of the main parts were redesigned – pistons, rods, crankshaft, the basics. It’s an engine with which our main objective was to minimise the loss of power to increase durability.”

Domenicali continued: “The second big news isn’t related to the rules, but to our attempt to make the bike more rideable. This has to do with the firing order. We have a motor that, since the switch to 800cc, utilised a screamer set-up. This has permitted us to have maximum power, which was very important and was probably fundamental with the results that we’ve had in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but at a certain point, we began to wonder whether it could be worthwhile to re-test a way that we’d already followed in the past. The last 1000cc motors that we made in 2005 and 2006 used a big-bang firing order, and this gave us important rideability. We re-tested that way, first trying it on the dyno, then with Vittoriano Guareschi in his previous role as test rider and then with Nicky and Casey.”

“We think we have a bike for 2010 with better traction, and that therefore makes it easier for us to find a good set-up. Another part of the work was dedicated to the chassis. In the pursuit of ease of use, we’ve worked to eliminate the bike’s squatting, which is why the entire rear portion of the bike was redesigned. This bike has a rear structure that carries the rider – which we call the seat support – and that also supports the swingarm. That part was redesigned to have six mounting points instead of four; this makes the bike more rigid in a way and it guarantees better rideability and improved rigidity. With respect to the bike we introduced last year, this bike is also aesthetically different because of the redesigned fairing but we already saw that at Estoril.”

Domenicali then discussed the recent changes to Ducati Marlboro Team management.

“2009 was a year – even from a sporting perspective – that was difficult and complicated. Nicky found things harder than he or we expected but he gave us a great lesson because he never lost his good attitude, he always had a spirit of great optimism and positivity. We were able to put at his disposal a bike that permitted him to obtain results that were in line with his talent. He gave us a podium at Indianapolis and he kept improving the whole season.”

“Casey was very fast from the start, as he always is, and had great potential. Of course what happened at mid-season affected the season, but I believe that everyone – from Casey to us – has described what happened and clarified it so it seems useless for me to continue to give details. The important thing, in my opinion, is that today we have Casey with us, probably in the best health we’ve ever seen him. We have reason for optimism for both riders.”

“There have also been some changes to the management, with Alessandro Cicognoni and Vitto Guareschi coming in, having shown themselves in the team to have competence and perhaps even bring things that were missing. I believe that this important change leaves the company in a solid situation, also because it’s in some way personalised by an incredible talent as Filippo Preziosi, who is the true engine of all our racing activities, and he remains safe, solid, and dedicated. I believe it’s a change in the continuity, if we can define it that way.”

Domenicali continued to add: “Faith is the key word that Ducati are using in looking ahead to 2010, in a variety of aspects. We have a team that certainly makes us think we can approach the Championship with great hope. Nicky and Casey are two riders who don’t need any type of introduction. We have faith in the company, because it has a solid, stable base in the Bonomi family, and it’s a company that has managed 2009 well: the motorcycle market had a big decline in 2009 – the market declined by over 30 percent, a very heavy, difficult amount. But our company managed very well and we dropped ‘only’ 18 percent. In fact, in 2009, we had the largest share that the company has ever enjoyed historically. So also from the economic point of view, the company knew how to control very carefully its costs and manage 2009 well. For example, we didn’t cut or eliminate any development of future models, something that’s fundamental for the future health of the company.”

“We have faith in the Championship, because I see that Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO, Dorna Sports) – here with us – has come through a truly difficult moment, with great character. He’s always been present in person, and he’s somebody with whom you can have a relationship and a dialogue, so it’s very important for our company to be present in a Championship run in this manner and Carmelo is thanked personally for this.”

“We have faith in our sponsors, because 2009, as I said, has been very difficult and yet we’ve managed to continue good relationships with them. We have a very important main sponsor in Marlboro – obviously our host at this event – which has confirmed our faith. We have other important partners like Telecom, Generali, Enel, Riello ups, that have been with us and grown with us over a long period of time. We also have faith in the media, who are well represented in this sport.”

Click here to watch the video from the opening day of Wroom 2010.

The Wrooom Press Ski Meeting 2010 officially opened on Monday, in a week that traditionally combines spectacle, sport and meetings with the international press in Madonna di Campiglio’s magnificent Dolomites.

Events will get underway on Tuesday, with press conferences with the two Ducati MotoGP Team riders, Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.

On Wednesday it will be the turn of Claudio Domenicali, General Manager of Ducati Motor Holding, with another key moment being the official presentation of the Ducati Desmosedici GP 10.

The week will also include events dedicated to the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team, with drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and test driver Giancarlo Fisichella all present, and proceedings will conclude on Friday.