Andrea Iannone: “We want and need to fight for victories”

Andrea Iannone recovered from a scoreless Race 1 and Superpole Race to finish the Assen WorldSBK weekend off with a P4 in Race 2.

A mistake in Race 1 resulted in Iannone highsiding in wet conditions, before sliding down the field after ‘destroying’ his tyres on the opening lap of the ten-lap Superpole Race.

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Iannone said: “It was a really strange weekend because the weather was crazy! In any case, we tried our best. 

“On Saturday, we made a mistake unfortunately because we had really good potential. I thought we were better than Sunday.

“Saturday was important for Sunday because we learnt. I think we closed the round in a good way with a good feeling.

“In the Superpole Race, I destroyed the tyres immediately on the first lap, so in the second race we finished well and fought for the podium and victory.

“We are competing with the factory teams, this is good. We achieved a great result.”

But despite being competitive, Iannone wants to turn his potential into victories as he looks to secure a factory seat in 2025.

Sixth in the world championship, Iannone has been fast at every round although he’s yet to put together a ‘clean’ run of results.

Speaking after Race 2, Iannone added: “My feeling was good, also on Saturday, with the half and half conditions, so the feeling with the bike is really good.

“Sometimes we feel a bit more inexperienced because we don’t have data like everybody, it’s my first year in WorldSBK and everything is new.

“We’re learning every day. We want and need to try to fight for victories. In the end, it’s important we always remember that this is my first year.”

Sam Lowes secures best result since joining WorldSBK

Another satellite Ducati rookie who impressed in Race 2 was Sam Lowes, with the Marc VDS rider claiming P6.

Seventh in the Superpole Race, Lowes was battling amongst the lead group during both races, in both dry and damp conditions.

“Today has been very positive because we scored strong results in challenging conditions and collected some decent points for the championship,” said Lowes.

“It felt a good way to quickly the forget the disappointment of yesterday when the conditions were really tricky. 

“This afternoon I was the only rider to go with the new Pirelli SCX rear tyre and I think it was the correct choice. 

“I’m happy with how I managed the race because I took my time at the beginning and paced myself so I could be fast and competitive at the end. 

“In Barcelona, I was very fast at the beginning but lost pace towards the end and dropped back, but it was clear today that I paced myself a lot better and that shows we are all learning from experience.

“This weekend wasn’t easy with such limited dry track time but again it was another very important learning experience for me and the team.

“We can take away a lot of positives and my first top six shows we are making the progress we want. I qualified fourth, felt strong in the full wet conditions and was competitive in the dry, so I want to say a big thanks to the team for their great work all weekend.

“We have a break now until the next round in Misano, but we will be out testing and trying to improve my feeling on the bike.”