Mid-Season Review: Andrea Iannone

At the halfway point of the season motogp.com takes a look back at Andrea Iannone’s 2016 so far.

Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) ended the 2015 season in the top five after a breakthrough year in the Ducati factory team, including three podiums and his first premier class pole position. His highlight was the second at his home race in Mugello and his consistent performances led may to believe that he would one of the favourites for victory at the first race of the season in Qatar.

Still as fearless as he was in Moto2™, when he was one of the few riders able to beat Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) on equal machinery, the Italian unfortunately crashed out of the race while fighting for the lead with his teammate Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team). The ‘Maniac’ would crash again during the last lap of the race in Argentina, but this time in more controversial fashion as he took Dovizioso with him, denying Ducati the double podium that looked assured.

Following these two mistakes, Iannone scored his first points of the year in Austin, recording his first podium of the season as he finished third. Seventh in Jerez followed, but another crash early on in the race at Le Mans meant he had recorded three DNFs in the first five races.

He then bounced back at his home race in Mugello by once again finishing in third as the only Italian on the podium at his home race. Two weeks later in Catalunya though, he would once again take out another rider while crashing. This time it was the man who will replace him in the Ducati Team for 2017, Jorge Lorenzo.

As a result of this incident he was penalized by being made to start from the back of the grid at Assen. His redemption came in the two-part wet race as he charged through the pack from last to finish in fifth.

Another fifth in the flag-to-flag race at the Sachsenring means Iannone hits the summer break currently in eighth overall in the championship, just two points behind the leading Ducati rider Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing).

E ridiamoci su... Bye bye #assen #maniac #ai29

Une photo publiée par Andrea Iannone (@andreaiannone) le