An unlucky race saw Andrea Iannone crash out his Suzuki Ecstar with only 6 laps remaining at the Sachsenring Circuit in Germany.
The morning's warm-up session saw Iannone feeling good on his bike and lap with a comfortable pace close to the top ten. Improvements made to the GSX-RR's had allowed the Italian to end the session in 13th place with 1'22.368.
A good start to the race for Iannone gave him the spark to overtake other riders and gain a better position in the first lap.
He then let those feelings carry him into to a pace nearly as fast as the race leader, closing in on the top ten.
The quick pace continued with some overtaking and some being overtaken, until lap 25 when he lost control of the front of his GSX-RR, finishing his German GP in the gravel.
“I'm very happy about this race - of course not for the result, but because of the progress that we've made,” Iannone said afterwards. “We took an important step forward during the weekend. I got my confidence back. I have a better feel for the bike and finally I can push it more or less as I want.”
“We started from behind on the grid and that affected the whole race. Apart from that, the first three laps I struggled with rear grip, but then I managed to keep pace with the second group. I tried to push hard to recover, but I crashed. However, until that point my times were good as was my satisfaction with the bike.”
The Team and riders will now take a one month break before the Czech GP (5th August) which will allow them to rest. They will also revise data and work on development as they get ready for the second half of the season.
