MotoGP: Another difficult weekend for Iannone and Suzuki

Andrea Iannone, Alex Rins and the Suzuki MotoGP team have suffered through another difficult weekend at the Aragon Grand Prix, with Iannone bring home the squad’s only three points in 12^th as local rider Rins finished 17^th.

However, despite the poor result (and the recent run of difficult races for Iannone) he was quick to find the positives after the race, admitting that while they had struggled, they’d struggled less than they have in recent races – something he’s now keen to build on.

“It has not been a really positive race in terms of the final result because we came here to achieve better results. On the other hand, this weekend we struggled less than in the other recent grands prix and I hope this might be a nice restart for Suzuki, the team, and myself. The most positive aspect is that together we are looking to improve, to reduce the gap with our rivals, and solve some of our problems. I would like to thank Suzuki for their efforts and the work they are doing and I hope that within a short time we will get to where we want to be. In any case I’m happy with our performance we even with the difficulties.”

However, things were less positive on the other side of the garage after the race despite a strong result last time out for Rins, with the Spaniard admitting that he was never able to get into the rhythm of the Motorland Aragon circuit located only kilometres from his home.

“It has been a very hard race, the one that cost me the most so far. At the start I did well and gained positions, but before finishing the first lap I lost a few places. Several riders have overtaken me in the braking, which is where I struggle the most. I had a hard time overtaking riders and I could not establish a rhythm. The positive side is that this experience serves us well for the future and we have learned many things today.”

However, improvements might be still to come at the circuit for the squad, with team boss Davide Brivio admitting that they were hoping to get to the root of the problems over the course of two days’ testing at the track today and tomorrow.

“It was a difficult race because we suffered a bit on this track. Andrea and Alex raced on two different types of tyres, Andrea with the medium and Alex with the hard, but neither of them proved to be effective in fixing the problem. In a way I can see the positive aspects in all of this: Andrea has improved a bit compared to previous races and even competing with others helps us to better cope with things. And although Alex couldn’t get into the points on such a difficult track, it is interesting for us to have two days of testing to check out the situation and look for solutions.

“We want to prepare well for the next race in Japan, which is an important race for us at home. In the tests we will not be starting completely anew, but there are a number of things we want to further test. We are likewise trying to find the right combination of the various elements such as the frame, the settings, and other parts, including electronics. We need to improve the mix, the whole package of this bike. Meanwhile we continue to collect information for 2018.”