points in the first five races: eighth in Qatar, ninth at the Americas, seventh in Spain, a season-best fifth in France and sixth in Italy. At round six in Catalunya, Hayden retired for the first time this season. Hayden initially had made up ground, where he went from fifth to eighth, to pass the Pramac Ducati of Andrea Iannone, but would crash out of the race on lap six when the front of his machine let go when he turned into the left-hander at turn 10 after passing Stefan Bradl for fifth place. He finished 11th in the Netherlands, ninth in Germany, eighth at his home race in the United States, ninth again in Indianapolis, eighth twice in the Czech Republic and Great Britain and ninth twice in San Marino and Aragón. At the Malaysian GP, Hayden retired once more with mechanical problems. Having started in 11th place, he was forced to stop when his engine failed and blew up in a cloud of smoke at the end of lap eight. After his engine woes in Sepang, Hayden went on to finish the last three races of the season—the Australian, Japanese and Valencian Community rounds—in seventh, ninth and eighth places, respectively. Hayden finished ninth in the championship with 126 points, 208 points behind the champion Marc Márquez and 204 points behind runner-up Jorge Lorenzo. For the second consecutive season, Hayden did not get a podium finish during the season. Aspar Team (2014–2015) 2014 It was announced on October 17, 2013 that, after five years with Ducati, Hayden had signed with the Aspar Team for the 2014 season. Hayden partnered Hiroshi Aoyama, who moved from the Avintia Blusens squad, with the pair riding open-specification Honda RCV1000R motorcycles. At the season opening round in Qatar, Hayden finished in the exact same position as where he finished last year, which is in eighth position. In the following three rounds—the Americas, Argentina and Spanish grands prix—he finished eleventh three consecutive times. At round five of the season in France, Hayden retired for the first time of the season when he came into contact with the Pramac Ducati of Andrea Iannone at the exit of the first turn on the opening lap. Hayden did not participate at the Italian race due to a wrist injury, which had lingered since the Spanish GP two races earlier. He expected to return for the next round in Catalunya