Team Suzuki Press Office – September 8.  Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s rider Andrea Iannone classified 9th after today’s free practice sessions at the San Marino GP, with a best time of 1’33.740. Teammate Alex Rins had a best lap of 1’35.052, which sets him at the bottom of the provisional sheet.

In the morning both riders worked hard to find the ideal base settings as quickly as possible, without having a reference for the track this year. The progression through the sessions went smoothly, with solid improvements for both. The Free Practice 1 ended with Iannone in 16th place (1’35.306 +1.750) and Rins in 17th (1’35.415 +1.859).

In FP2, riders were able to benefit from setting improvements, although the team is still working on finalising the feeling with braking and corner entry. Despite this, Iannone was able to put in a strong lap that gave him 9th place in the provisional classification, which may prove fortunate in case tomorrow morning will be rainy.

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“We still have some work to do to improve the feel of the bike for Andrea, but today we started better than the previous races. For the moment we are in top ten, which makes the day a positive one. Alex struggled a little more in the afternoon, but we are pretty much used to a slower start of the weekend with him. The important thing is to continue to improve with both of them tomorrow. We are hoping the weather will be good. With both of them we have to improve the braking and the feeling in the front; this is our main focus for tomorrow.”

Andrea Iannone
“This morning has been a strange session, with very poor grip. I’m not sure if it was only a problem for us or for everybody else. In the afternoon things went a little better, but we are still struggling. In terms of a fast lap we are still half of a second slower, which is not that much, but overall we are still far from the performance we expected. I can’t enter corners properly or brake properly, which means I lose a lot of time. This is the main issue we are working on; I hope we will be able to find some solutions for tomorrow. I still believe we can, but we are struggling.”

Alex Rins
“Today’s result is not satisfactory in terms of classification but I’m not worried too much. Mainly it’s a matter of adaptation to this circuit, as the track here is very different from the ones we‘ve raced before. It’s more narrow and intense; therefore it’s taking me more time to adapt my riding. In the morning my position was not bad, in the afternoon I had a couple of minor crashes that took away some of my confidence to push harder. Nothing serious, I didn’t get injured. I just lost control of the front, which is actually what we are working on. I don’t have the proper feeling with the front end, so it’s hard to push it to the limit. Iannone is in the top ten, this means that we have the potential. We just need to keep working on the proper riding and feel for the bike.”

GP of San Marino – Classification after Free Practice 2:
1. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing – 1’33.231
2. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1’33.236 +0.005
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 1’33.294 +0.063
4. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – 1’33.346 +0.115
5. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 1’33.475 +0.244
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda – 1’33.545 +0.314
7. Michele PIRRO, Ducati Team – 1’33.591 +0.360
8. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team – 1’33.614 +0.383
9. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1’33.740 +0.509
10. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 1’33.820 +0.589
11. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1’33.832 +0.601
12. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1’33.914 +0.683
13. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 1’33.937 +0.706
14. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing – 1’34.054 +0.823
15. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing – 1’34.137 +0.906
16. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing – 1’34.266 +1.035
17. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1’34.322 +1.091
18. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 1’34.411 +1.180
19. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1’34.499 +1.268
20. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 1’34.678 +1.447
21. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1’34.842 +1.611
22. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1’34.903 +1.672
23. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1’35.052 +1.821