Andrea Iannone came close to the podium at the Portimão round of the World Superbike Championship. In a difficult weekend, where he had to learn the Portuguese track, the Team GoEleven rider managed to recover in the second race, finishing in fourth place as the best independent rider. This was aided by his recovery in the Superpole race, where he started from 15th after qualifying in that position, finishing in ninth.
The Italian admitted to the official championship website that he faced many difficulties adapting to the circuit, and after the disappointment of retiring from Saturday’s race, he was more satisfied with the second main race:
– Race 1 was a stupid crash. I wasn’t pushing more, I entered with 2km/h more in the middle of the corner and I lost the front. The first corner here is difficult. I touched the bump. Day by day, I learnt the track more and this is important because it’s a really technical track. It’s not easy to have references here. It’s really difficult but, in any case, I’m happier with Race 2 than yesterday because I struggled at the start of the weekend.
Despite being pleased with his performance on Sunday in Portimão, Iannone emphasized that he wants even better results: ‘It wasn’t bad. We struggled to recover the positions because we started from 15th on the Superpole race grid but, in any case, we recovered a little bit. I started well in race 2 and my pace for the whole race wasn’t bad. I was really close to the top riders in this moment, the top manufacturers and factory bikes. When we are close, it’s a good result for us. For sure, I want more. My target is a little bit more than this. We achieved a good result with the package we have’.