MotoGP: Iannone’s race ended by too-tight rain suit

Andrea Iannone had yet another disappointing weekend on the factory Suzuki machine ended by the most unusual of circumstances on Sunday at the San Marino Grand Prix, claiming that a too-tight rain suit worn over his leathers left him suffering from arm pump and unable to properly control his GSX-RR machine.

Speaking after the race, Iannone says that that meant a short end to the disappointing weekend, retiring out of 13^th at the culmination of a weekend that saw him qualify behind rookie teammate Alex Rins in 21^st for his home race.

“Sadly I had a problem in my arm. I decided to wear the rain suit for the race, which actually proved to be too tight, obstructing the blood flood to the arms, so right after two or three laps my forearm started to pump and get rigid, preventing me from riding properly. I was never able to open the gas full-throttle, and then I also lost responsiveness with the brake. It’s a shame because the machine was performing well and had good potential. I’m sorry for Suzuki because we could have taken advantage of these conditions.”

And that result was made even worse for the Italian with Rins bringing home a strong performance in front of him, scoring his best finish of his career so far in eighth.

“I’m happy about this result. During the whole weekend we struggled in dry conditions, but on wet we did a very good job. After the start I found myself in last position. It was a problem with visibility, with all the water kicked up by the other riders ahead of me. Little by little I managed to recover positions, setting my own pace.

“I saw I could get up to the 9th position and settled behind the rider ahead, where I waited until the last lap to attempt the challenge for 8th place. Then in the last corners we crossed lines with another rider and I lost some ground, without a chance to recover further. My team prepared a fantastic setup for the wet, despite only lapping for 20 minutes in this morning’s warmup.”