Iannone Disappointed With 5th After Another Difficult Race For Ducati
- Aug 10, 2015
- 2 min read
Andrea Iannone leaves the United States disappointed with a distant 5th place finish in yesterday's Indianapolis Grand Prix.
The Ducati rider made a pretty decent start, jumping from 7th to 4th by the second corner. The Italian was demoted to 5th when compatriot Valentino Rossi got passed on the second lap.
Hindering the Desmosedici this weekend was the tyre choice. Ducati were unable to run the more durable hard tyre, and this left them vulnerable to attack from those around who could use it. For Iannone that attack came from the Tech 3 Yamaha of Bradley Smith, who closed down the GP15 rider in the latter stages of the race. Iannone was just able to hold off the Briton, but he acknowledges that Ducati have got to dig deep to discover the problem causing this recent slump in form.
“I got a really good start, but unfortunately I didn't have the pace to stay with the leading group. I tried everything I could to push hard right from the start, but I wasn't as quick as the top four, so I did my own race and it was not easy to keep Smith behind until the end. With the harder tyre we knew that the leading four were a bit quicker, but in any case we held our own and I think that we took home the best result that we could obtain today. Now we have to respond to fighting for the podium like we were doing at the start of the season.”
Things were no better for team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. He out-braked himself at turn two on the opening lap and dropped right to the rear of the field. Desmo Dovi managed to salvage 9th, which will be of some relief given his three DNFs in the last four races and a lowly 12th in Assen.
With the Czech round just days away it seems unlikely that Ducati will make substantial gains, though Brno may suit them a little more.
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