Iannone focusing on understanding used tyres

Despite only riding on the final day of the three day Jerez test Andrea Iannone felt that Ducati made a  positive step in understanding the Michelin tyres. Having completed 67 laps Iannone concentrated on chassis settings in a bid to find a solution to the issues that most teams are having in optimising their setup to get the most from the French rubber.

The different characteristics of the Michelin tyres has meant that teams are moving the centre of gravity as high and as far forward as possible. For Iannone the test was a good opportunity to make setting changes.

“This was a positive day for me and for Ducati, because it’s the first time that I have tried different settings with the Michelins,” said Iannone. “I’m really happy, because the bike improved step by step, exit by exit, and this is really important. From Valencia I was really happy with the feeling from this tyre and this feeling was confirmed at this track. On my last exit I improved my lap time but I didn’t use a new tyre. At the moment the laptime isn’t important.”

Iannone completed medium length stints throughout the day with the majority lasting up to ten laps before returning to the pits to focus on making a change and going out once again.

“My  runs were eight to ten laps. I want to understand the tyres and also the electronics better because with the used tyres it’s a little bit difficult. So today I focused on the used tyres. I used the tyres for 34 laps, and so because I want to try to manage at the best the new situation, with the electronics and tyres.”

The test wasn’t incident free for Iannone with a small crash at the last corner.