Iannone ‘hoped for podium’ at Mugello, hopes to improve

Andrea Iannone continued his fantastic run of top positions at the Italian GP, with a fine fourth place during Sunday’s race at Mugello. The Suzuki rider, who has already announced he will be with another team for 2019, had a point to prove at home and a solid fourth place puts him in good stead to find the right ride for next season.

‘The Maniac’ managed to get as high as 3rd place during the race but fellow Italian Valentino Rossi reeled him in and passed him, braking clear after the two had a brief tussle in the closing stages of the race. The 2016 Austrian GP winner also beat his teammate Alex Rins, who made it a double top-five for Suzuki.

“I tried my best, but for sure I had hoped to finish this race on the podium. In any case, we struggled with the rear tyre because the track was really hot so we lost out on acceleration, especially on the straight,” began Iannone, who is 7th in the championship and just 35 points off the top slot, occupied by Marc Marquez.

“It’s very difficult to make up the lost time in the corners. But anyway, I’m really happy about the race, I pushed a lot from the beginning, but half way through I reduced my pace to allow the tyres to recover a bit. I knew the last part of the race would be really important and I tried my best at the end, 4th is a good result and we hope to improve in some areas so we can be consistently at the top,” he concluded.

Rumours suggest that Andrea Iannone may well end up at Aprilia next season, a rumour that was doing the rounds at the very same point in 2017. However, with Aleix Espargaro already signed up and Scott Redding under performing, it may not be too hard to imagine the flamboyant Italian to partner Aleix Espargaro.