Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) had an almighty return to the timesheets in the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix, after missing four races following a crash in FP1 in Misano. The Italian, unsure before the weekend began how he would manage with the still-recovering cracked vertebrae, had an impressive return as he clocked the fourth fastest laptime in FP1 – putting him P4 on day 1 as FP2 was affected by rain. The ‘Maniac’ didn’t run in the wet due to the risk, but is happy with the positive signs from his first session back.
Andrea Iannone (P4): “It was a positive return: I expected to struggle a lot more, not really physically but in general in getting back up to speed, but already in the first practice session I had an excellent feeling with my bike and was feeling good. So in the end I am pleased with how this first day went after my long period away from the track. This afternoon we opted not to go out in the wet so as to avoid taking any unnecessary risks, but obviously if it continues to rain tomorrow we will start to get ready in case the race on Sunday is a wet one.”