Andrea Iannone admits he doesn’t know how much his injured shoulder will hinder him at this weekend’s French Grand Prix until he takes to the race track on Friday morning. The Ducati rider sustained the injury while testing at Mugello and although he may be forced to ride in pain, Iannone is ready for the challenge.
“Unfortunately I injured my left shoulder during the second day of testing at Mugello. I was trying the harder front tyre when I crashed at the Arrabbiata 2 curve. After paying a visit to Prof. Porcellini in Cattolica, we immediately began treatment in order to recover as quickly as possible. My shoulder still hurts a bit, but in any case my mobility is good and this is important because it’s a comfort to know that you are not limited in your movements. I will try and ride as best as I can, but I don’t know how much pain I will have, and we will only get an idea tomorrow morning when I step onto my GP15 for the first time.”
Teammate Andrea Dovizioso endured a disappointing Spanish Grand Prix after a second lap mistake relegated him to the back of the field. Dovizioso still lies second in the world championship though and expects to be back on form again at Le Mans.
“The last race at Jerez didn’t go the way we had hoped for but we managed to score some points in in any case and hold on to second place in the championship. The test at Mugello was very important for us because it also pointed us in the right direction for the French GP: it helped us to understand the GP15’s behaviour much better and we lapped very strongly, and so I am very confident for this weekend’s race at Le Mans.”
