Defense-Sunday for Team Go Eleven and Andrea Iannone at Magny-Cours. Sunny day for Superpole Race and Race 2, after not riding in the Warm Up due to the humidity on the track coming from the night. Finding the right pace today was difficult, overall we struggled a lot in the first two sectors of the track, losing in the long accelerations that are typical of this track. Considering yesterday’s Top 5, the French Round still gave us the possibility to bring home some points.
In the Superpole Race almost all the riders entered the track with the SCQ, the tyres that should perform better in the short distance. In the first lap, thanks to Alvaro Bautista’s crash, a gap was created with the Top Ten that it was not possible to close. Lots of overtaking and a clean battle, saw the #29 finish in eleventh position, winning the sprint of the group with which he was fighting. The changes thought up after Friday’s feedbacks did not give the desired results, for Race 2 it needed to find something different.
P 1 N. Bulega 16’15.040
P 2 A. Lowes + 0.115
P 3 D. Petrucci + 3.677
…
P 11 A. Iannone + 17.510
For Race 2 the choice falls on the SCX tyres; at the start Iannone manages to overtake a couple of riders, then in the brawl of the first laps a gap from tenth place is created again that became difficult to close. Inconsistent laps and a few too many exchanges of positions lead the rider from Vasto to ride in defence and bring home the best possible result. Towards the end he improves his pace considerably, getting in line with the group close to the podium, but then those in front were far away and he can only consolidate the twelfth position. Best lap of the whole race on the last lap, prove that the confidence and feeling on this track with the Panigale arrived a little late. Probably with a dry Saturday a better set-up could have been found for today’s races.
Race 2:
P 1 N. Bulega 34’03.028
P 2 D. Petrucci + 2.303
P 3 G. Gerloff + 4.300
…
P 12 A. Iannone + 26.852
The weekend’s balance is not bad at all in terms of points, combining yesterday’s fifth place and today’s twelfth; at the beginning of the year we were aware that we would encounter difficulties during the season, given both by new tracks and by an adaptation to the Panigale that cannot always be easy and instinctive. It will be important for the next races to fix the feeling with the rear SCX tyre, which on more than one occasion this year has put the whole team in difficulty. In this tight September Go Eleven does not stop, from Magny-Cours we move to Aragon for two days of testing with the aim of preparing for the end of the season in the best possible way.
Andrea Iannone (Rider): “Magny-Cours was a particularly challenging weekend. The new track, the bad weather and the resulting changes made to the set-up affected performance and I didn’t find the right references. The important thing is that we managed to bring home some points and positive feelings in view of the two days of testing that await us in Aragon. I’m confident for the next races.”
