Iannone disappointed as front tyre wilts at Brno

Andrea Iannone dropped out of rostrum contention in Brno when the factory Ducati rider was powerless to prevent his front tyre rapidly diminishing in the final third of the race.

The Italian, who celebrated his maiden MotoGP victory in the previous round in Austria, was in a strong position as he led for a long period in the Czech Republic, but with seven laps remaining, Iannone began faded drastically as his tyres finally wilted.

The 27-year-old's front tyre was completely destroyed in the centre but he managed to limp across the line to finish eighth.

"I am disappointed about how the race went because I believe that today we once again had very high potential. I started the race without pushing really hard in order to try and save the tyres as much as possible and was still in the lead with seven laps to go," Iannone said.

How did he finish? This was Iannone's soft front tyre #CzechGP #MotoGP @andreaiannone29 @DucatiMotor pic.twitter.com/03ckWfeLhP-- Crash.net MotoGP (@crash_motogp) August 21, 2016

"But unfortunately in the last seven laps it was very difficult to control the situation because my front tyre was destroyed. I don't think it was a bad decision [to use the front front], but the problem was the track was not fully wet.

"Other riders such as Dovi, Scott [Redding] and Jorge [Lorenzo] had their problems before me, maybe because they pushed harder right from the start, whereas I had a good margin and could ride well without pushing and was in any case quick.

"I choose the soft tyres because I was sure I would change the bike after half the race. But instead the track was very slow to dry. The soft rear tyre was not a problem, only the front tyre was destroyed.

"We only rode in the wet here this morning, only three laps, and we didn't have a lot of data. So we risk a little bit and without full wet conditions this new front tyre from Michelin is a little bit too soft.

"But we learned a lot and I think next time will be better. I'm happy to improve my feeling in the wet and improved a lot compared to the Sachsenring."

His team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, was not so lucky and was forced into the pits as the centre of his front Michelin tyre wore out.

Dovi, who had been in the fight for the top three with Iannone and Scott Redding, switched to his second machine, which had been fitted with intermediates, but retired on lap 16 after finding them unsuitable for the wet track.

"I feel really bad about the way the things went in the race because I was very competitive and was in a position to get a good result. For the race we opted for the same tyres we had used in the morning warm-up and which, in very wet track conditions, had proved to be excellent.

"Before the race however it stopped raining and, even though the track stayed damp, the front tyre soon began to deteriorate in an abnormal way," Dovizioso explained.

"I am not so surprised because the front tyre we are using was really, really soft. So with not a lot of water, it can happen. But I'm not happy about the tyre allocation we have [to choose from]. Because we have the extra soft we used in Sachsenring or we have the hardest tyre in our allocation.

"The gap is too big for me. For example, almost nobody put the hard front because already in the past with a softer spec than the hard tyre we had today everybody had a problem with the grip. Some riders took a risk [with the hard front tyre] and it was the right decision.

"Cal won with that and it would have much better, but like I say it is really hard. It worked here because the grip is good and the water was very low. But this morning the extra soft tyre was completely new after nine laps.

"So to manage the situation is really difficult. I think Michelin still don't have the situation under control with the rain, so we need more spec at this moment. I was the first rider to have a problem but other riders had the same problem and when you lose a piece of the tyre it is dangerous."