Just a few laps into this morning’s FP3, Andrea Iannone turned a 1:39.687 lap that put him in fifth place for most of the session, but the pain in his forearm returned after just ten laps. Nonetheless, the Italian still finished ninth, just seven-tenths from first-place Cal Crutchlow, putting him directly into Q2.
FP4 kicked off at 1:30 p.m. in sunny and warm conditions, with track temperature at 50° C (122° F), and less than three minutes from the end, Andrea had a hard fall in turn 13, suffering a deep wound to his left knee. Following treatment by Dr. Costa’s Clinica Mobile, and permission from race direction, the brave rider was able to return to the track for Q2, in which he earned the eleventh spot on tomorrow’s starting grid.
The Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team is satisfied with the respectable times and with the technical solutions that were found on this challenging day, and it looks forward to tomorrow’s race.
Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
“I hit quite hard when I crashed, and I kept tumbling along with the bike. The clinic stapled the cut, but I’m worried for tomorrow because it burns and is quite painful. Also, the problem with my arm returned this morning, so although I’m able to do a few more laps, I can’t say my fitness is at 100%. I’m having a hard time with changes of direction, where I had to save my arm a bit by using my knees, but we did a good time before I crashed, four-tenths faster than this morning. I’m satisfied that we’re a couple of tenths from the Ducati riders, but I don’t have a clear idea for tomorrow’s race. We’re suffering quite a bit in this heat because we’re obviously losing grip. I was one of the first to crash, but it seems like it was a common problem. We used a hard front tyre, which we think is better, but I don’t know what solution we’ll try for the race.”
Pramac Racing Press Release
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