MotoGP Barcelona: Exclusive interview with Andrea Iannone

We are with Andrea Iannone at the end of the first day of free practice for the Catalunya Grand Prix, sixth stage of the 2013 motorcycle racing championship. The Team Pramac rider had a difficult start this year, primarily because he was a rookie in the category, but also because of the injuries. In fact, he underwent surgery on his forearm some time ago due to compartment syndrome and then had a problem with his knee, which was "punctured" after a fall.

Andrea, how much have injuries affected this start of the season in a category that sees you making your debut?

“It's not easy at the moment, it's precisely the category that's difficult, it's never easy. These physical problems are certainly not helping us, on the contrary, but we are working, as soon as a problem arises we face it, we try to solve it. Now physically I'm quite well, in this race I "only" had the ear problem, but on the bike it doesn't bother me too much."

What are the points where you find it most difficult while riding the Ducati?

“I would be much happier if I could ride the bike the way I like it, ride instinctively and not try to adapt to the bike, be slower in some points and then have to be fast in others, a riding style that requires this bike here (Ducati Desmosedici GP13).”

From this point of view, how much can the “LAB” bike that you tried immediately after Mugello help?

“The new bike can certainly help a little, it's certainly not the turning point we expect but it still has a small advantage and I'm of the opinion that we get a big advantage by moving forward step by step. Overall I can say that the bike has improved from all points of view and this is definitely a positive thing; The sooner we can get her in the race the better it will be.”

Today you are close to the other Ducatis and your gap from the top is less than a second

“Compared to other weekends we started better and very calmly, we are working, trying things that they already wanted to try in the other races. The Mugello test was very positive for us, because it made us understand a few things. Here we'll see if we can achieve what we'd like to do, I think we can always be close enough to the officials, let's hope that things don't get complicated as they have from the beginning of the season until today."

Photos: Alessandro Giberti