Hot shot Iannone narrowly misses pole

Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone missed pole position by just 0.132s at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, despite his recent arm injury.

The Italian was forced to miss the race in Sepang due to injuries to his left upper arm and came into the Valencia weekend only ‘feeling at 80%’ according to his team on Friday. Both Saturday practice sessions saw the Italian towards the front of the field, having started slowly on day one.

Iannone looked set to claim another pole position on the improving Ducati machine with a 1’30.975s lap, until fellow Italian Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) pushed him to second with his final lap. Just 0.132s splits the Italian pair on the grid and Iannone will be one to watch in the opening stages on Sunday.

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) was the closest Ducati to Iannone in eighth position, the Briton’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso just behind. Iannone will replace Crutchlow in the factory team next year.

This is Iannone’s fifth front row of the season and equals his best qualifying results from Mugello and Misano.

“I very happy for this performance. In FP4 I pushed really hard with the hard tyre and I had a good feeling. The arm improved a lot and I’ve done a lot of physio. I had a good feeling with the bike and more power in my arms. I’m happy for this. I tried my best but Vale was too strong today. But I’m sure he’s happy, I’m happy! I tried my best and pushed 100%, I risked a little bit in the last corner, I think it’s the fastest I could have done,” said the Italian.

On the race he explained, “I’m not sure how the race will go with my arms. For the first six or seven laps it’s okay, after that I don’t know. Tomorrow is a new challenge. I want to finish the season well with Pramac Racing and give them a present.”