Italiano
SECOND TO LAST AT LAP 1 – TOP TEN AT THE FINISH LINE; EXCITING COMEBACK FOR ANDREA IANNONE!
On Saturday at Donington Park, the sun and summer temperatures provided a pleasant atmosphere to the first day of racing. Team Pata Go Eleven got off to a though start, but they turned things around with a positive and solid Race 1.
Unfortunately, in FP3, a technical issue on the first flying lap forced Andrea to stop trackside, causing the red flag for oil on the track. Fortunately, the damage had been quickly repaired, allowing #29 to return to the track to assess whether everything was OK. However, by missing the session, the changes made following Friday’s comments were not tested, forcing the team to go into qualifying without any real feedback.
Free Practice 3:
P 1 A. Lowes 1.25.354
P 2 S. Lowes + 0.284
P 3 T. Razgtlioglu + 0.374
…
No time set A. Iannone
The Superpole, as expected, was all about a few hundredths of a second. Many riders were close together, within a few thousandths. Andrea completed a strong first lap, placing himself in the top ten, but on his second attempt he slipped to fourteenth place, losing significantly in the third sector. It’s a shame, because with a few hundredths less, he could have moved up a few rows. Race 1 and the Superpole Race will therefore start from the middle of the pack, on the fifth row.
Superpole:
P 1 T. Razgatlioglu 1.24.827
P 2 N. Bulega + 0.119
P 3 A. Lowes + 0.147
…
P 14 A. Iannone + 1.087
Race 1 proved to be quite chaotic, with lot of crashes and clashes between the riders. In Turn 1, on the first lap, one of clashes led to the crash of three riders, forcing Andrea to slow down to avoid them; however, he was hit by two other riders, running wide and restarting second to last. In the early laps, he waited for the right gap to begin his comeback, then began a series of overtaking moves. From mid-race on, he was consistently among the fastest riders on the track, closing a gap of over 4 seconds from the top ten. He overtook 10 riders, set a personal fastest lap with four laps to go, and had an incredibly fast first section of the track. In the final two laps, he managed to attack Vickers and Vierge, grabbing tenth place. It was a solid comeback race, showing excellent race pace and making no mistakes. It’s a shame, because his pace was in line with the top five, but it was still a positive race for the team morale and confidence!
P 1 T. Razgatlioglu 33’27.255
P 2 N. Bulega + 6.535
P 3 D. Petrucci + 11.775
…
P 10 A. Iannone + 21.942
For Sunday, we’ll need to build on the second half of today’s race, building on the great determination shown, and try to make up some positions in the SP Race to avoid contact at the start. After a few unlucky races, the team moved the standings with solid points earned!
Andrea Iannone (Rider):
Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager):
“Here in Donington, the gaps are always really tight, and many riders are often within just a tenth of a second, and it happened today in qualifying. The positive note is that last year here at Donington we were 1.8 seconds off pole, while this year we’ve closed the gap to a second, a clear sign of significant improvement that was then also evident in the race. Unfortunately, Andrea was involved in a collision at the first corner and found himself second to last. However, he did a great comeback, riding in line with the Top 5. With five laps to go, he was the fastest rider on track, setting his fastest lap of the race. This performance once again underlines our speed, now we need to be able to translate it into the race.”
SATURDAY PICTURES: CLICK HERE
