Iannone fears Suzuki speed deficit at Mugello

Andrea Iannone is bracing for a tough home race at Mugello due to his Suzuki’s top speed deficit to its rivals despite producing promising race pace.

After topping Friday practice, the Italian rider also went fastest in the final free practice session which provides the most representative conditions to Sunday’s race. Along with the quickest lap time in FP4, Iannone caught the eye with his consistency as one of the few riders lapping in the 1m 47s bracket.

Despite being content with his pace at the Italian round, Iannone retains fears for his top speed on the long straight at Mugello against Suzuki’s rival manufacturers.

“It’s really difficult because on the straight, we lose a lot on the top speed,” Iannone said. “When you have a really good ride on track from the first corner to the end, and you recover two tenths, but you will lose everything on the straight.

“So it’s a really bad situation, especially when you have five Ducatis behind you, we start all together and on the first or second lap it’s really easy for the riders to overtake me. On the straight, I’m slower than everybody.

“I have a really good feeling with the bike so I’m happy. We arrived here and we are very strong, but in any case, tomorrow is a really difficult race, because it’s important that we manage the tyres. If it’s more hot than today, we will struggle a little bit more.”