Nicky Hayden will return to the MotoGP championship for the second time in 2016 this weekend at Phillip Island – and make his first venture onto a factory Repsol Honda for the first time since 2008 – as he steps in to replace the injured Dani Pedrosa.
Hayden last sat on the Repsol bike in 2008, before switching to Ducati, but has experience of Honda’s current RCV213 MotoGP machine after returning form the championship from World Superbikes two rounds ago at Aragon to replace the injured Jack Miller.
Pedrosa is set to miss the whole of MotoGP’s flyaway trip to Asia and Australia after undergoing surgery on Saturday night for the collarbone he broke in free practice for the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday, with doctors saying that the operation went well.