Andrea Iannone made his return to MotoGP at the Malaysian GP. Having no prior preparation, and although a season in the World Superbike Championship gave him competitive rhythm, the rider struggled physically and finished in the lower positions.
Marco Melandri believes that «The Maniac» could and should have done better, commenting to Corse di Moto that the start seemed promising during the first free practice session: ‘I think everyone expected more from Andrea Iannone, especially after Friday morning when he seemed to start well. But few changed the tyres. In Malaysia, new tyres make an incredible difference’.
However, from that point onwards, the former rider saw no improvement from Iannone throughout the Sepang weekend – where the #29 substituted the injured Fabio Di Giannantonio at Pertamina Enduro VR46:
– In the race, I expected Iannone to struggle to score points, but I didn’t think it would be that bad. I didn’t see any improvement throughout the weekend. The lap times, from the middle of the race onwards, were decidedly slow. He set times that I and [Casey] Stoner were doing in 2007. In my opinion, he has the ability to do better.