Iannone glad to be back having missed the last four races

Ducati Corse’s Andrea Iannone says that he is ‘happy to be able to return to the track’ at this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix following four races spent watching from home with a back injury.

The Italian rider suffered a fracture to his T3 vertebra in a fast crash during second free practice for the San Marino Grand Prix. He was forced to miss that weekend’s race and the Aragon Grand Prix two weeks later, though he did take part in FP1 at the Spanish circuit.

Iannone was supposed to be back in action at the Japanese Grand Prix, but advise from his doctors kept him on the sidelines for the Motegi race and the Australian Grand Prix, this leading to speculation that there had been a falling out between Ducati and the Austrian Grand Prix winner.

However, these rumours have now been rubbished with Iannone’s return this weekend in Malaysia. The Italian comes into this round still not 100% fit, but said that he couldn’t spend any more time at home and had to get back on the bike as soon as possible.

Despite having missed the last four races, Iannone hopes to be quick from the off in Friday practice, though admits that he will need to ease himself back into the swing of things and learn his capabilities on the bike with his injury. Nonetheless, he is still aiming at achieving a strong result in his penultimate race as a Ducati rider.

“I’m very happy to finally be able to return to the track, and hope it will be a positive weekend for us, even though I know that it won’t be easy because my back is still not quite right,” the Italian said.

“In any case I decided to return to racing here at Sepang, also because it’s quite a struggle for me to sit at home and watch the races on TV and I was desperate to get back: for Ducati, for myself and for all my fans who always support me. I hope to be immediately fast and competitive, even though for sure I will have to understand my condition, my possibilities and my speed. I’m keeping my fingers crossed but we are returning to the track with the aim of obtaining some good results.”