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Italiano
Andrea Iannone was convinced he could have done much more in the light of Friday's performance and instead he was unable to go any better than a sixth place in Race 1. It was all the fault of the sensations with the bike that were never optimal, at least until before the flag to flag after which the situation improved, but it was now too late to recover.
"I thought I had broken the engine because I had no grip on the rear on entry and exit," he began, "I risked a highside in every corner and felt like I was riding on ice. I was lapping in 1"31, then with the new tires I improved a second. At the finish line I came in seven seconds behind the first, five of which I lost in the first part of the race, otherwise I would have been close to Bulega."
Were you able to give yourself an explanation?
"It happened all of a sudden. Something unbelievable. Maybe it was the heat, but it was like that for everyone. Honestly, the whole weekend saw me going at a different pace, but today I couldn't even stop the bike, turn or accelerate. We will analyze everything," he said discouragedly.
Can we say it was lucky that the race was flag to flag?
"I think with a single race I would not have seen the end. I was really convinced that I had broken the engine and was losing oil. Every time I entered a corner, I could never accelerate and as soon as I did I would slide. I took risks in all the corners, so I was lucky not to crash," he pointed out, "Why didn't I stop? I continued because I am a rider and because I wanted to understand the second tyre. Let's say I had to ride differently than in the other sessions. The tires were not the same and with the high temperatures we suffered. Yesterday with a tire that had 16 laps I lapped in 1'29"1 and with the one I didn't like in 1'29"6.""
Did you have a chance to figure out the cause?
"The tires were not the same after there was the flag to flag. The conditions changed a lot and we were struggling. The best I could do was to lap in a 1'30"6, which was far from testing. With 16 laps of tyre in testing I did a 1'29"1."
According to post-race reports, there was evidence of a clutch problem on the Ducati Go Eleven, which affected Andrea's race and as a result his performance.
