Iannone urges Suzuki to cure rear spinning issues

The Italian joined Suzuki from Ducati for 2017, but the Japanese marque has struggled to hit the heights it did with Maverick Vinales last year.

Iannone is 15th in the championship after five rounds, with an average qualifying position of 9.4 and having crashed out in Qatar and at Jerez.

At the circuit where Vinales claimed the first podium of Suzuki’s reborn MotoGP programme 12 months earlier - 14.177 seconds behind winner Jorge Lorenzo - Iannone crossed the line a distant 10th at Le Mans and 48.332s off Vinales, who won with Yamaha.

Iannone said that while the Suzuki is strong mid-corner, it loses ground when he looks to get back on the power.

“The Suzuki has very good edge grip; with [lean] angle I have very good grip,” he said. “But, in the dry, when I pick up the bike I have too much spin.

“I can't use the power, I have wheelieing, everything is a little bit difficult. But it has other strong points. I have very good speed in the corners, I have a very good agility.

“Step-by-step, we are trying to improve all areas to improve our potential.”

Suzuki struggled with acceleration in hot and/or wet conditions last year, and Iannone feels its current problems are a mix between hardware and electronics.

“It is not possible to focus only on one point,” he said. “We have a very clear idea for the future and Suzuki is starting to work to recover this problem.

“I asked them to try to recover drive grip and other points, and Suzuki is very reactive and working, so I am very happy about this.”

Iannone added that there is also work to do on stopping the bike, which, combined with the acceleration deficit was making overtaking tough.

“It’s very difficult to reduce the speed on the braking point,” he said. “On the front, for me it’s very difficult to brake from the beginning and also when I arrive [in the corner with lean] angle.

“In entry, the bike doesn’t reduce the speed, I arrive always with high speed and I hope we improve in the future.

“On the braking point I’m not strong and also when I pick up the bike I lose, especially on the first part of the race for this it’s very difficult for us to overtake.”

Additional reporting by William Zinck