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At least in the MotoGP paddock, Andrea Iannone appears to have a truly resigned air about him. The 2017 season has offered him only great difficulties in practice and poor race results. In his interviews, he has been a man a few words, with his morale below his boot heels.
Today, the team Suzuki Ecstar factory rider finished qualifiers with the fifteenth best time, two positions behind teammate and rookie Alex Rins, who is very unfamiliar with the premier class, and behind various satellite bikes. Andrea tries to make sense of it all: “Qualifying was less than perfect - the number 29 rider admits - but the situation is difficult in general. I suffered in the fourth sector of the track and I am struggling a lot on corners, where I just cannot get the GSX-RR to work well. In acceleration and in slight leans, my bike slides around a lot at the rear and I lose a lot of time because it is difficult to control it.”
And yet, a solution must be found…
“I have spoken with the team technicians and we are trying to solve the problem. Tomorrow we will be working to find a valid change to make progress with the bike and to improve our performance. To be honest, though, right now we do not have a solution that can help us improve.”
What kind of race are you expecting?
“Our race pace is faster than some of the riders who will be starting ahead of us tomorrow, so we will try to catch up. We never take the best advantage of qualifying, because I don’t have enough confidence to push to the limit. It will be a difficult Grand Prix. The rear tyre wears a lot and quickly here at Silverstone, so it will be important to know how to manage it over race distance.”
Do you think that particular upgrades will arrive for your bike before the end of the season?
“Suzuki is working hard, I have to acknowledge that, but we can’t test the new parts during races. Something new will arrive for the Misano tests the day after the race there and also after the Aragon race I’ll have some new parts for my GSX-RR. I hope to be able to take a few steps forward in order to finish out the season in a way that is different from this one.”
