Andrea Iannone “ran out of fuel” on the way to Aragon WorldSBK Race 1 win

Victory for Andrea Iannone in WorldSBK Race 1 at the Aragon World Superbike round came despite a huge scare on the final lap.

Although Iannone was able to pull away at the end and led by over one second heading onto the final lap, he said he’d “struggled” in the beginning.

“Honestly, in the beginning, I struggled a lot with the front tyre, but lap by lap, I improved the feeling and I felt really good and confident with the bike in the last five or six laps,” he told WorldSBK.com, adding that he had a fuel scare on the final lap.

“Today, the last lap was really difficult because I ran out of fuel. I arrived [at the finish line] with the clutch in my hands, without engine power, only with speed! I’m really lucky.”

Iannone’s victory was his first of the 2024 season, which has been his return to racing following a four-year racing ban that began in 2019.

“It’s amazing,” Iannone said. “I came back to have this feeling and it’s always special. Today is a little bit different as it was after a long, long time.

“It’s not easy to come back but it’s really special. I had a really difficult moment, and, in the end, the dream always lived inside me.

“In the end, I decided to come back. It’s not easy. I had to recover a lot this year as, after a long time, everything was difficult. Today, we are here and I’m really happy.”

Iannone added that the result was proof that his decision to come back to racing was the correct one.

“I didn’t just win the race today, I won the race of my life,” he said. “I won the race to prove to me that I’m a strong man. I won the race, I’m happy.

“It was a good race but it’s different compared to MotoGP. Everything is different. Today I won a really important race.”