Austrian GP winner Andrea Iannone was a frontrunner in the Czech GP a week after his first win, staying calm and conserving tyres in the early stages to set himself up for a charging finish. With teammate Andrea Dovizioso suffering a tyre problem earlier in the race, it seemed that Iannone hadn’t had the same issues – until the problem did appear and the ‘Maniac’ found himself nursing the rubber home and dropping back through the field from the lead. Finally crossing the line in P8 after a nightmare last few laps as there were some hard charges through the field, Iannone laments what could have been after the Italian once again played the long game – but this time found it not able to pay off.
Andrea Iannone (P8): “I am disappointed about how the race went because I believe that today we once again had very high potential. I started the race without pushing really hard in order to try and save the tyres as much as possible and was still in the lead with seven laps to go, and it was only at that point that the front tyre began to show some problems. Other riders such as Dovi, Scott and Jorge had their problems before, maybe because they pushed harder right from the start, whereas I had a good margin and as a result could ride well without pushing and was in any case quick. It was really a pity that the race didn’t go the way we wanted it to go.”