At the end of the first free practice session, Suzuki was not happy with Iannone in thirteenth position, 1.7 behind leader Maverick Vinales. The second was even worse and Andrea was only in fifteenth place, 0.9 behind Scott Redding. No one expected a miracle for the third session, and yet it happened: The Maniac achieved the second time, 0.5 behind Vinales in the combined classification.
He was therefore qualified for Q2, and the rain transformed this qualification into second position on the first row of the starting grid, between the Yamaha of Maverick Vinales and the Honda of Marc Marquez.
Andrea Iannone : " I'm happy to start from the first row of course, but at the same time we would have needed a little more riding to work on the machine. On Friday we were able to make many improvements and my feeling was positive, but it would have been better to have time to do further checks and tests.
“We had some ideas to improve in certain areas, and I think that could have been useful for the pace, to gain two or three tenths – which is always welcome. Anyway, racing is another matter. The first row is a good opportunity for me. I will try to take full advantage of it ».
Davide Brivio, team manager « We have to be realistic, and we are happy for Andrea's frontline position. This Saturday we lost a good chance to test and work on the bikes. Friday, with Andrea, we had a great performance, but we also had to confirm it. It seems he has regained some confidence with the bike, a good feeling, but we need proof.
“Also, we need to transfer this feeling into the racing setup of the machine. We missed this chance and we will have to try to make the most of the warm-up.
“We are positive for the race, if Andrea continues with a good feeling of the bike he can have a good race from second place on the grid. With Alex, we are really curious to see what his first experience in MotoGP will be like. »
