Andrea Iannone enjoys “one of the best Sundays of this year” after Aragon WorldSBK success

Andrea Iannone finally won his first WorldSBK race in Race 1 at Aragon last weekend, but was unable to contend for the podium on Sunday.

Iannone instead battled with Garrett Gerloff for fourth position in Race 2, a result he achieved to match his result of the Superpole Race.

“With battles, it’s always good,” Iannone told WorldSBK.com of the battle between him and Gerloff for fourth in Race 2.

“In the end, races are fun when you have battles and overtakes.

“On the last lap, [Garrett] Gerloff tried to overtake me, but I braked really heavily, and he wanted to brake later than me.

“He went straight on. It’s normal. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and, today, I won this battle.”

Despite missing out on repeating his winning performance from Race 1, Iannone was pleased with his Sunday overall.

“I think it was one of the best Sundays of this year,” Iannone said. “We achieved two fourth places. I pushed in the races on Sunday at 100 per cent and, with our potential, we got the best result.

“I’m really happy because we improved a lot compared to Saturday; the pace improved a lot. This is important. I think we’re on a good path.”

Iannone added that his proximity at the end of the race to the factory Ducati of Nicolo Bulega — who dropped to ninth early on when he ran wide at turn 12 before recovering to third — meant he could be more motivated for the two remaining rounds of the season in Estoril and Jerez.

“We were really close to Nicolo [Bulega]. I think races like this improve my motivation.

“When we lose, we’re clearer on what we need to improve, and also, I understood a lot in this race; also, on the bike because we worked well.”