Andrea Iannone had to sit out the Aragon MotoGP race yesterday after finding Friday practice just too tough following his Misano crash and once again test rider Michele Pirro was drafted in to ride the Ducati Desmosedici GP but wondered why he was there when Iannone took part in the opening session.

“Why did they ask me to come here?” Pirro seemed tired and a bit demotivated on Friday morning behind the Ducati Garage. The test rider, who had already replaced Iannone at Misano, had arrived in Barcelona late on Thursday night and had rushed to Aragon to support Ducati if they needed.

It all depended from Iannone’s decision to ride the Aragon GP. His sixth place in the first practice session on Friday was surprising. “I know Iannone well, he will do everything to go back on track and try. He is determined.”

But after FP1 came the cold shower. This time the brave Italian rider had to give up. “I don’t have the strength, it’s useless to take more risks”, said Iannone after a convincing morning session only 0.771s behind Marc Marquez.  The timesheet were confirming that he had the speed, but they were not enough to convince him.

“It was not an easy decision but I have to withdraw. It’s better to miss this race rather than compromise the final part of the season: three races in a row and the grand finale in Valencia,” said Iannone, frustrated, but honest. The decision was logical, understandable and the pain of the rider was visible.  

“The pain is too big and if I take the pain killers, I lose some sensibility and lucidity. When you ride at 240km/h you need to have everything under control. If I wanted to face the race on Sunday, I would have needed some pain killers and nevertheless after ten laps to drop the speed. The risk is too high and above all when you ride a Motogp you need to have the full control of  your bike”.

It was a hurt rider the one who was speaking in front of the media at Aragon.  and he arouse once again the urgent subject of how important it is to give the clearance to riders who are fit and feel comfortable to ride. On Saturday Iannone could confirm that he had taken the right decision, because the pain increased.  

As it happened in Misano, Michele Pirro jumped on his bike from the FP2 and he had to face with the lack of grip of the Aragon track.  Not an easy job for the Ducati test rider who started with Iannone’s set up. “We didn’t make any changes in the setup. I had to learn the track again first. I The last time I rode at Aragon, it was five years ago on a Moto2. I had to literally re-learned the track. It’s quite demanding with a lot of elevation and blind corners.”  

As it shook out, Pirro finished in 12th place, only one behind team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who had been tipped to be the ninth winner in a row: “Today’s aim was to finish in the top 10 but unfortunately the battle in the early stages forced me to make some mistakes in overtaking and from half-way through the race the bike began to have a big vibration, but seeing as I didn’t have a chance of catching the guys ahead of me, I just tried to finish my race. I’m disappointed about the result because in my opinion we had the potential to finish in the top ten.”