ANDREA IANNONE FINISHES IN THE POINTS IN THE GP OF THE AMERICAS
A CRASH IN THE EARLY STAGES PUTS ALEIX ESPARGARÓ OUT OF THE RACE
NOW EVERYONE WILL BE HARD AT WORK FOR A DAY OF TESTING IN AUSTIN WHILE THE TEST TEAM IS BUSY IN JEREZ
Andrea Iannone brought home points in the GP of the Americas, finishing twelfth. After starting from the seventeenth spot on the grid, Andrea moved up through the ranks, thanks in part to a couple of crashes, reaching the top ten. In that stage, around the mid-race point, it seemed that Iannone would be able to move up even farther, but tyre wear in the final seven laps kept him from defending the result he had achieved. Andrea continued pushing hard, finishing twelfth to bring home championship points.
Aleix, with a harmless crash on the second lap, compromised his chances for a good placement which, given his pace and the overall standings, would certainly have been within his potential.
Austin confirms its status as a difficult track for the Italian team which, precisely for this reason, will stay here tomorrow for a day of testing, whereas on Wednesday and Thursday, the test team with Bradley Smith will be busy on the Jerez track. The growth of the RS-GP is the primary objective and both the team and the factory in Noale are working hard to achieve this goal.
ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“Given the way the race went today, it would have been a good chance to pick up some important points, but unfortunately, already in warm-up, the bike was not as consistent as it had been in the other sessions. I didn’t feel good with the traction control already in the morning and in the race it was the same. I found myself in a high side when I opened up the throttle and we need to understand why. We need to improve the bike, so the tests tomorrow are important. We especially need to improve grip. Right now this is the primary goal and I hope we are able to take some steps forward.”
ANDREA IANNONE
“The final position isn’t bad, but more importantly, we added another notch to our belt in terms of growth, accumulating experience. My only disappointment is that I wasn’t able to maintain the pace in the last seven laps. The bike got twitchier and more difficult to ride. Without this drop in performance, we would have been able to make a play for the top ten and, what’s more, we would have reduced the distance behind the leaders. Right now, the most important thing is not the result. More than anything, we need to improve the gap behind the leaders.”
