Andrea Iannone finally returned to race tracks after about four years by participating in World Superbike Championship testing in Jerez this week. The rider posted convincing lap times, but the transition to the Ducati Panigale V4 R and the return to competitive racing was not an easy task.
The Italian rider admitted to GPOne.com that he was particularly exhausted during this initial contact with WSBK: ‘I’m destroyed. I haven’t ridden a racing bike for several years, and even though I’ve trained over the years on production bikes, it’s different. On the track, you encounter amateur people who ride for fun, and it’s complex for a rider to train properly, have a free track. But I always trained at my maximum, but it’s not enough for WSBK or MotoGP. They are different bikes, of course. But there is a lot of power in both, and braking is always difficult, and I had some problems with my arms, but that’s normal. I’m happy’.
The physical aspect was the biggest challenge for Iannone during these tests, as he stated: ‘I struggled physically because there are muscles that you only use with a race bike. So, I arrived at 14:00 [on Wednesday], and I had done the most laps. My arms were tired, and I had difficulties with acceleration. This affected performance a bit, but I know it’s something I need to work on at home. I tried to get the best out of it, and I believe it would have been difficult to do more than this’.