Andrea Iannone made a surprising comeback to the world championships last weekend at Phillip Island, now as a rider in the World Superbike Championship. In his debut race, he finished third, then didn’t have as good of a position in the Superpole, finishing 14th, but he quickly almost kissed the podium in Race 2, finishing fourth. Overall, it was a very positive weekend for the Italian, who admitted to conflicting feelings.
The Team GoEleven rider spoke about his weekend on the championship’s official website: ‘On one hand, I’m angry because I made two mistakes and lost the race. Anyway, it’s the best possible comeback. When I started and led for many laps, it was incredible. I’m not completely satisfied. It’s my first race after four years and I finished first, the feeling and everything was good’.
And it was physically demanding, with the Italian feeling it in his body: ‘I’m a bit stiff; I’m not at 100% and how I want to be. I think in the past, when I was in MotoGP, I was fighting a lot, but it’s been a long time. I had a problem with the braking setup with the bike. I kept pushing and wanted to reduce it. It was impossible to change. I would have signed if they told me I would finish third or fourth, it’s unbelievable’.
And he added: ‘But when you have the feeling that you can achieve a better result… this weekend was strange, something happened at every moment’.
