MotoGP Le Mans, Free Practice: Difficult day for Andrea Iannone and Michele Pirro

The first day of free practice for the MotoGP class at Le Mans was quite difficult for the Team Pramac Ducati riders, namely Andrea Iannone and Michele Pirro, who here replaces the injured Ben Spies. Here's what they said at the end of the day.

“Today it was important to understand if I could do the race, also in view of the Mugello weekend. Towards the end of the second session I wanted to try the latest changes made to the bike and we also changed the tyre, I slipped but that's how it went – ​​said Andrea Iannone – Energy TI Pramac Racing Team – Fortunately I didn't get hurt and we'll try again tomorrow. Even if I'm struggling with my arm and knee, I'll be there for the race, I can do it and above all I need to understand how my arm behaves during and after. At the moment I can say that he has improved but I'll wait until Sunday to be sure because the effort we put ourselves through is decidedly greater. At the moment the Mobile Clinic and Dr. Claudio Costa are helping me a lot, having the stitches removed made me feel less bad and I immediately felt better. I want and we must improve as soon as possible, and seeing that Nicky and Andrea went quite fast gives me hope."

Michele Pirro in action with the Ducati Desmosedici GP13 of Team Pramac

“It was a bit of a difficult day, I had some small problems in both sessions and in the afternoon I had to change the bike, on which, moreover, I felt better – added Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing Team – I think that this situation contributed to slowing us down a bit. However, I am satisfied because, for the first time on this bike and on this track, I have started to gain confidence. I hope that tomorrow we can ride in dry conditions too, so that we can improve further, the margins are there and we need to try to get things right. We worked a bit on the setup today and I'm sure we can do it.”

Photos: Alex Farinelli