Race report

Iannone forced to withdraw at Aragon

Andrea Iannone: "... I could no longer do the turns, and when I realized the problem, the only thing I could do was came back in the garage."

The first leg of a challenging overseas tripleheader in the MotoGP World Championship took place today at the Sepang International Circuit, where Andrea Iannone’s day ended prematurely.

Andrea Iannone, Pramac Racing Team

Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah

After a very good start, the determined Italian immediately gained one position and sat in ninth place, behind fellow Ducati rider Nicky Hayden. He turned his best lap of 2'02.786, only to break his steering-damper mount following a violent headshake, forcing the Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team rider to drop out of the Malaysian GP on the sixth of twenty laps.

There was an atmosphere of disappointment in the garage, as the weekend had been one of the best of the season until that point.

Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team: “It’s a shame, as I was having a good race. I was able to stay with Nicky and Dovi during the first few laps, and we had almost the same pace. I was riding well and thought I’d be able to have my best result of the year. It’s okay though, as my team and I will learn from this experience, because we definitely didn’t expect this kind of problem. After I broke the mount for the steering damper, the bike became dangerous and impossible to ride, I could no longer do the turns, and when I realized the problem, the only thing I could do was came back in the garage. This will help us to grow, and anyway, we really worked well during this race, so I’m optimistic for the next round.”