Iannone builds on Austin success
Andrea Iannone achieved a second successive podium for Suzuki. His third place finish made it the squad’s third podium in a row, giving the Japanese manufacturer their best run of form since 2007. Looking impressive throughout the weekend, Iannone was able to make the podium by holding off the spirited advances of Pramac Ducati racer Danilo Petrucci.
Yet despite delivering a strong performance in the race on a machine that’s rapidly being adapted to his riding style, the Italian says that if he’d believed in himself a little bit more before the weekend then he could have been right in the mix. “I rode like I rode last year, but the bike is completely different and the set-up is completely different. After winter testing and the first few rounds we now know the best way for me to ride the bike, and I’m really happy about it. We’ve made step-bystep improvements and everything is coming together,” he said.
“We didn’t choose the right tyre though. We picked the hard one because the first three rows had done that. But that’s experience for us, something that we’ve learned now. In the future we’ll think about ourselves and not everyone else! With a medium tyre it would have been possible to fight for an even better finish.”
It was a more disappointing race for team-mate Alex Rins, however, with the youngest rider on the grid unable to convert a strong pace of his own into success. Crashing out in the opening laps, Rins admitted afterwards that he and the team will have to take a long look at the data to work out what went wrong.