Andrea Iannone finished his first Sprint Race as a MotoGP rider but made several mistakes throughout the race.
At the Malaysian Grand Prix, Andrea Iannone completed his first MotoGP Sprint Race. After five years away from MotoGP 'The Maniac' has been thrown in at the deep for one of the hardest Grand Prix of the year.
The Italian rider has spent the 2024 season riding in World Superbikes but felt drastically underprepared for MotoGP. Iannone believes he is not strong enough to ride in MotoGP as the Ducati GP23 is much heavier than his Ducati Panigale V4 R.
However, Iannone finished his first race back as a MotoGP rider. The 35-year-old crossed the line in 19th place, four seconds ahead of the Aprilia test rider, Lorenzo Savadori.
"The feeling is really good with the bike, with everything," Iannone told MotoGP.com. "But during the Sprint after two or three laps, I started to make mistakes. Because I lost strength because the bike is so heavy and at the braking point you need a lot of strength.
"For me, this is completely new, I tried to push but in the end, I did not have the strength I needed. But it is experience in case next year I need to race in MotoGP, it is not like this but in case. I would need different training at home before and it would need to be more intense to use this bike."
