MotoGP, Iannone: The accident with Petrucci? Not my fault

Another race to forget, this time not finishing in the rear guard, but on the unforgiving escape lanes of the English track. It was a crash two laps from the end of the race for Andrea Iannone that also involved a blameless Danilo Petrucci. The Suzuki rider’s crash on Abbey turn laid out the number 9 Ducati and ended the English weekend for both of them.

And yet, Iannone’s Sunday had begun well with the best time in the warm up session. In the race, however, the usual problems reappeared: “It was a difficult race - Andrea recounts - The rear tyre did not give me good grip. The Suzuki slid around a lot, slipping in acceleration and it was really difficult for me to control. I was slow, I lost a lot of time coming out of turns and it was hard for me to try to overtake the other riders. I was not even able to maintain their pace.”

And then the catastrophic crash arrived, where Petrucci was involved…

“I was very close to Danilo. I was in the group and Aleix Espargaró was there too. I think that the Aprilia rider and Petrucci touched in the braking section. The Ducati went wide and when it came back onto the trajectory, its line crossed mine. I tried to avoid Petrucci by braking hard, but I lost the front end and crashed, taking his Ducati down with me. Fortunately, Danilo was not hurt and he knows that it was not an intentional move. It wasn’t my fault.”

Andrea, after this zero, is looking toward the next Grand Prix…

“Alex Rins rode a good race. I am happy because he finished 15 seconds behind Dovizioso. In short, we have something positive to work on in the Suzuki garage. I would like to be in Misano tomorrow morning already to have a go with the other guys.”

Where do you find all the patience to put up with this difficult situation?

“In the past I was a decidedly more tense rider. Then, with time I realised that time and hard work bring results. With that tension, I never solved anything. You cannot achieve anything in this sport from one day to the next, so we will continue working to improve our results.”