Andrea Iannone admitted it was a ‘risky’ decision on tyres that paid off to take his first MotoGP win at the Austrian GP.
The Italian used an alternative strategy than those around him as he beat his teammate Andrea Dovizioso in a head-to-head at the Red Bull Ring.
“I am really very happy, because in my opinion we did an incredible race,” he said.
“I started off quite slowly and tried to stay up front without ever pushing too hard, because I knew that in the final stages I could have had a bit less pace than everyone else, having opted to start with the soft rear tyre, while all the others made a different choice.”
Iannone even revealed his decision to go one step softer on compounds than those around him went against the advice of tyre supplier Michelin.
“Yesterday I worked with [both] and I think the hard one for me had a big drop after six-seven laps, for me was very difficult to manage, especially on the right side,’ he explained
“And when in FP4 I tried a small long run with the softer one, I finished with 22 laps and my last three laps were [1m]24.2, 23.9, 23.9.
“When I come back in the box, I talk with my engineers and with Michelin, I explain my feeling. I thought this tyre is better for the race. But Michelin first time did not agree 100 percent… but I today believed in me.”
Control played a key part in earning the victory, something, that ‘the Maniac’ has struggled with this year following a number of notable incidents.
“I ran the whole race keeping a bit of margin and my bike was really perfect,” he said.
“I think that we did a great job over the entire weekend and I’d like to thank my team, all of Ducati and my crew chief Marco Rigamonti who have helped me improve so much in these last four years.”
Check out what his first win may mean for Andrea Iannone’s future as he prepares to move to Suzuki from 2017, in our Austrian MotoGP analysis here.
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