American Nicky Hayden will spearhead Aspar Honda’s campaign in 2014, ending a five-year stint at Ducati.

Spanish MotoGP World Championship team Aspar has confirmed that it will field 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden aboard a Honda ‘Production Racer’ in 2014.

The Power Electronics-backed outfit has been the dominant combination along with Aprilia’s ART and Aleix Espargaro since the CRT sub-category was introduced last year, however a new structure has been put in place for next season.

With the regulations set to change again for 2014 and the CRTs due to give way to a new breed of production racers designed to bring the grid even closer together, Aspar will align with Honda and has signed Hayden as its lead rider.

“It is great news for the Power Electronics Aspar Team to have the acquired services of Honda and a rider of the profile of Nicky Hayden,” said Jorge Martínez ‘Aspar’. “We are taking a huge step forward in terms of quality, prestige and image.

“We have grown a lot in a short space of time and we are all very excited about this new project with Honda. It is the factory that the Aspar Team first started with back in 1992 and I have great memories of that period.

“Our objective is to continue being a reference point in the premier class. I think the combination of Honda’s MotoGP Production Racer and Nicky Hayden is going to be a very successful one. We are thrilled to be working with a manufacturer with the history that Honda has and a rider like Nicky, a world champion with huge experience.

“It will be a big change for us after so many years working with Italian factories, but we have high hopes for this new project. We are up for the challenge and we will give maximum effort to making sure the Power Electronics Aspar Team continues achieving top results.”

The new Honda Production Racer, which is based on the Honda RC213V prototype, has already been tested in Japan by the Hamamatsu factory test riders including Aussie Casey Stoner and is showing a competitive level of performance.

The team will take delivery in time for the official MotoGP post-season test at Valencia in November, marking a return to the factory that the team first started with in 1992.

It also marks a return of sorts for Hayden, who won the MotoGP World Championship with Honda back in 2006.

Aprilia’s involvement in MotoGP remains uncertain following the defection of Aprilia Racing boss Luigi Dall’Igna to Ducati.