Italiano
P 8 – BEST INDEPENDENT IN ESTORIL’S SATURDAY!
Eighth place in Race 1 for Team Pata Go Eleven and Andrea Iannone; Best Independent at the end of 20 tight laps, coming back to the group battling for fourth place, tenth after tenth, but lacking the momentum to overtake. The race was slightly penalized by a not perfect qualifying session, but it was still a good performance that provides important data for tomorrow.
In FP3, Andrea tested the new Pirelli front solution, called the 672, achieving good times and feeling, with less movement and greater stability. The lack of grip, however, remained a key issue, slightly improving compared to Friday. In a final stint on the qualifying tyre to get ready for Superpole, the #29 rider dropped below the 36th position, with a time of 1:35.625, just a few hundredths outside the top three.
Free Practice 3:
P 1 T. Razgatlioglu 1.35.202
P 2 S. Lowes + 0.358
P 3 R. Gardner + 0.368
…
P 6 A. Iannone + 0.425
Superpole didn’t go according to plan; a positive first outing, an excellent first sector, then Iannone held his own in the second half of the track, finishing tenth, exactly two tenths off third place. It was a very tight qualifying session where every thousandth of a second can make a difference. His second attempt improved only in the second sector, but overall, he repeated the 35.6 of the first stint. Tenth place was expected, although a fourth row start didn’t completely compromise the race.
Superpole:
P 1 T. Razgatlioglu 1.34.203
P 2 N. Bulega + 0.346
P 3 A. Bautista + 0.960
…
P 10 A. Iannone + 1.426
Race 1 starts with a dramatic turn of events. Right behind Andrea, who narrowly escapes, happened a big crash, with several riders down. The red flag comes out and new start of start; #29’s second start is better than his first, taking ninth place and chasing the pack battling for fourth. Tenth after tenth, he climbs back up, catching up with Vierge, and attempts an attack between turns one and two in the finale, but couldn’t get a good line. Eighth place is the final result, a decent race, but something is still lacking on corner exit and braking, especially in the fourth sector.
P 1 T. Razgatlioglu 32’07.301
P 2 N. Bulega + 1.948
P 3 A. Bautista + 14.729
…
P 8 A. Iannone + 19.614
Best Independent today, knowing that starting further up the field would probably have led to a top five finish. Andrea came back several seconds, closing the gap, but here at Estoril, overtaking isn’t easy. Tonight, we need to find a solution to what we’ve been looking for all weekend: greater traction and a less nervous bike. The starting point isn’t bad, let’s see if we can make that step forward to fight in the pack!
Andrea Iannone (Rider):
Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager):
“Today we expected to be more competitive throughout the day. We finished eighth, which isn’t a bad result considering the close gap to the podium, but we’re having the same problems as the first day without being able to completely fix them. Our pace was to be in the top five, and unfortunately qualifying didn’t help us much either. We have a few ideas for tomorrow. Andrea wasn’t able to overtake, but he managed his tyres well and recovered towards the end. Best Independent is always nice, but here we have the potential to do better!”
SATURDAY PICTURES: CLICK HERE
