Iannone: “It’s not been a good start”

Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was electric in the season opener in Qatar before crashing out of the front group, and the Italian was ready to hit back in Argentina – with the weekend not going to plan.

Moving in his grid position slightly at the start of the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina, the Italian also suffered contact with Ducati Team rider Jorge Lorenzo into the first corner – before Race Direction handed him a ride through penalty for the jump start and the chance at another frontrunning weekend was lost; Iannone coming home as final finisher in P16.

Andrea Iannone, P16: “I got a ride through penalization and my feeling is that it was too harsh. In my opinion I didn’t gain any advantage because I just moved a bit but then immediately stopped. On the contrary, I also got hit by another rider at corner 1, causing me to lose many positions. Because of this, my opinion is that the Race Direction could have given another evaluation of the situation, and maybe not dictate such a penalising ride through. Of course this, together with the contact at corner 1, in which I lost many positions, affected my whole race. It’s a shame because my pace after the penalty was good, maybe not enough for the podium, but for sure I could have fought for the top 6. It’s not been a good start of the season for me. We have to change our pace and get a new start. We deserve better results.”