This weekend, Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi will head to the Indianapolis Speedway for the 12th round of the 2011 MotoGP season. The Ducati duo have both seen success at Indy and will be looking to continue their progress on the Ducati GP11.1.
It will be a homecoming for Hayden as the American rider grew up just a few hours from the Indy track. The Indy GP was also home to Hayden's first Ducati MotoGP podium.
"We're going to Indy, and we'll see what the new track surface does," said Hayden, who was the first MotoGP rider to test out the new surface earlier this month. "I've ridden it, and the bumps are definitely gone, although I'd say it will take some time on Friday to clean it up and get some rubber down.
"I'm looking forward to this event. I always enjoy racing at home in front of friends and family, but I need to go there and focus on my job. I want to try to do a good result while also having fun and enjoying the weekend. The team has worked really hard to get me the opportunity to ride this new bike, and now it's up to me to try and pay them back with a good result."
Rossi, like Hayden, will be using the GP11.1 this weekend at Indy. Rossi won his first race at the Indy circuit in 2008, but the American track isn't one of the Italian's favorites.
"Indy is a difficult circuit, and although it's not exactly one of my favorites, we'll see how we perform there with the Ducati," Rossi said. "They resurfaced part of the track, so the conditions should certainly be better from that point of view.
"We made a little progress with the GP11.1's setup during the Brno GP, and we'll see if we can confirm them at this next race.
"Anyway, racing in America is always nice for me, as I enjoy both the atmosphere and the fans, who are always very passionate."
Vittoriano Guareschi, Ducati's Team Manager, added:
"We come to Indy after a test day at Brno, where the team and both riders did a lot of work: Valentino dedicated all of his time to trying many different adjustments to the GP11.1's setup, which was a really tough assignment that Valentino approached with incredible commitment. Nicky also did a lot of laps, finding good enough harmony with the GP11.1 that both riders will use it at Indy. This is an important decision that will accelerate our development work. It's Nicky's home race, and that always provides extra motivation. In fact, he earned his first podium with Ducati there in 2009. He was also really strong last year, though his race was unfortunately affected when he lost a knee slide in the early laps."
