The last time Andrea Iannone began a Malaysian MotoGP weekend🍃, back in 2019, he was 17th on the timesheets in opening practice for Aprilia Gresini.

Fast forward five yea🅺rs and, without even a test beforehand, the Italian turned heads by being classified ninth quickest at the start of his stand-in appearance for VR46 Ducati.

Admittedly, Iannone fitted new soft front/medium rear rubber - while most stuck with used medium/hard tyres - to launch hims🎐elf from last on the timesheets.

Either way, it 𝔍was mightily impressiv🐻e from The Maniac, give it was only his 15th lap on a GP23.

Iannone finished the day 1.9s fr🐼om reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia and ahead of Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori.

“Incredible,” I😼annone said on Friday e𓂃vening. “It's another bike, another MotoGP. It's completely another story.”

That new story includes advanced aerodynami📖cs, ride-height devices and the latest Michelin tyres.

“It's difficult to compare [to 🏅2019], it's complete another story, an꧅other bike,” he explained.

“Now you have winglets, a lot of aerodynamics. You ‘charge’ a lot the tyres. You ဣmake really strong pressure.”

He added: “Braking point, ent๊ry and the corner speed, this is the biggest difference

“I🃏t's unbelievable. It's really difficult to understand t🌸he limit.

“Every lap I try more, I 💖try more, I try more and I don't feel the limit!

“It's impressive. You need to ride, ride, ride. Today I did only 25 laps, with🌜out a test,༺ without nothing, it's difficult.

“But I'm happy. I’m 1.9s from Pecco. It's good!”

The 2016 Austrian Grand Prix winner insisted he didn’t have🌠 difficulty adapting to the ride-height device and highlighted how stable the Ducati felt compared to 2019.

“It has more agility, more everything. It's more easy to ride. It's less nervous, more stability and so entering [the ♚corners] is more easy,” he said.

“The bike is not nervous. Really smooth. Turning really well. When you arrive [at the corner] put the bikeಌ in lean angle. Wow, you don't have movement!

“Before if you made a mistake on the pickup, you started to move ‘wah, wah, wah’ [simulates bik𒁃e shaking violently side to side]. 

"It was difficult to control the torque𝔍. Now it’s﷽ perfect.”

The o𝐆nly area where the latest generation of prototypes have become more difficult isꩵ the physical strength required under braking.

“On the braking point, with these brakes…  Destroyed, destroyed! It’s really a lot of stren🍒gth,” he said.

“But I think on the first day, afܫter so many years, a ‘59.6 is good. We will see tomorrow," concluded Iannone, who made a race-winning return from a four-year anti-doping ban in Wor♉ldSBK this season.

Bagnaia highlighted how Iannone’s performance compared very favourably to WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista’s MotoGP wild-card on a factory Ducati at Sep🔯ang last year.

“I think that Andrea did a ve༒ry good job today,” Bagnaia said. “Considering he didn’t do any test, like Alvaro Bautista did last year, but did a better job, because lapping in 1m 59s already - without knowing anything a🐭bout rear [ride] height device, about our tyres.

“So,⛄ for me, Andrea tod🃏ay did a very impressive job.”

Bautista, who later revealed he was suffering a shoulder injury, was also second-last on the timesheets during Friday൩ practice last𝄹 season but +2.547s from the top with a 2m 0.370s.