Unlucky Saturday in Portimao, where Andrea Iannone and Team Go Eleven ended Race 1 early due to a crash in turn one, right in the heart of a great comeback from fifteenth place on the grid to eighth. On this track, the rider from Vasto and his Panigale V4-R faced some difficulties, but the solutions found in the race showed an excellent pace that bodes well for tomorrow’s competitions.
In FP 3 Andrea Iannone signed his best time of 1.41.0 with used race tyres, proving to be satisfied from the first laps. Having improved the first sector, there is still something to be found in T 2, mainly in the section of the hill. The strong point remains the management of the last part of the track, fundamental in the race to overtake. Unfortunately, towards the end of the session, number 29 was unable to complete a lap on the soft tyre, setting a significantly improved first sector, then a mistake at turn 5 forced him to slow down.
Free Practice 3:
P 1 D. Petrucci 1.40.316
P 2 A. Lowes + 0.254
P 3 A. Bautista + 0.260
…
P 13 A. Iannone + 0.761
Qualifying, this time, did not smile on Team Go Eleven; in the two time attacks Andrea was unable to put together a perfect lap, showing a good speed in some sectors but in different laps, so much so that the ideal time at the end of the session was almost half a second better. Probably the difficulty in consistency on this track, combined with the movements of the bike, caused the fifteenth position on the starting grid. It was a shame, because in the “good” lap Iannone turned on a first red sector, under the first reference; lap then not completed due to traffic in the second sector. In Portimao, fortunately, the track has some overtaking hotspots, so there is room to recover.
Superpole:
P 1 T. Razgatlioglu 1.39.783
P 2 A. Lowes + 0.104
P 3 D. Petrucci + 0.188
…
P 15 A. Iannone + 0.992
In Race 1 Andrea starts well, immediately recovers a row, riding close to the Top Ten. In the battle with Alvaro Bautista he goes long in turn 1, then losing two positions. From that moment on he begins a great recovery with 41 lows, remaining faster than the leading group for a few laps. He overtakes Aegerter, Vierge, Rea, chases Locatelli, overtaking him towards the halfway of the race. On lap twelve, while preparing the attack on Axel Bassani, he loses the front in turn 1; a harmless fall, but scores zero points in the Championship. In the Race there was progress in the second sector, improving lap after lap. Furthermore, Andrea has found the right consistency and pace that would have allowed him to fight in the Top 8.
Race 1:
P 1 T. Razgatlioglu 33’44.531
P 2 A. Bautista + 0.780
P 3 D. Petrucci + 1.450
…
DNF A. Iannone
For Sunday the goal is to have a good Superpole Race to climb the starting grid. Starting in the top nine would help to try to gain positions.
Andrea Iannone (Rider):“In qualifying we weren’t able to get a good lap, but Superpole and Race 1 were useful to get some references. Despite the complexity of the track in the race I was having fun and our pace was good, it’s a shame about the crash. We’re definitely missing something to get to the podium level. Tomorrow we’ll try to do our best, hoping to recover some positions from the start.”
Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager):“This circuit is very particular and in the first year it is not easy to take the right references with the little time available. Andrea showed he has the speed in the race, even if in qualifying we did not find the right lap; with the ideal time we would have started in the top ten. The race pace until the crash was consistent, we still have a couple of important areas where we can improve and if we succeed tomorrow we can enjoy both races”
