Marco Melandri says he “expected” 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Andrea Iannone to “struggle to score poinꦡts” in his MotoGP return at the Malaysian GP, but “didn’t think we would🍸 do so badly”.

After a four-year doping ban effectively ended his MotoGP career, one-time grand pri༒x and World Superbike race winner Iannone made his first premier class start since 2019 last weekend at Sepang.

He was dಞrafted in by VR46 to replace Fabio Di Giannantonio, who ended his season early to have surgery on the left s🌠houlder he dislocated in Austria.

Iannone showed impressive speed, ꦰending Friday morning ninth on new tyres and was 17th in qualifying - though threatened to go quicker without an error on his flying lap.

Physical limiꦿtations having been off a MotoGP bike for so long hindered ඣIannone in the races, with the Italian second-to-last in the sprint and the grand prix.

Five-time MotoGP race winner Melandri felt Iannone🌟’s return was more disappointing than he expected and remarked that he was lapping in 2007 times.

“I think everyone expected more from Andrea 🦄Iannone, especially after Friday morning when it seemed he had started well,”🌸 Melandri told .

“Hﷺowever, few had changed tyres. In Malaysia, new tyres and cool weather make an incredible difference.

“In the race, I expected Iannone to struggle to score points, but I didn't think he would do so badl♔y.

“I didn't see any growth over the course of the weekend. The times, from halfway thro💝ugh the race onwards, were decidedly slow.

“He was lapping at the times that [Casey] Stonerꦯ and I did in 2007. In my opinion, he must and can do꧑ better.”

While Melandri is cor🥂rect in his lap times from 2007 being similar to Iannone’s last weekend, the VR46 stand-in’s average pace at Sepang was 2m02.379s, which put him 47.59𝕴9s off the lead in 17th.

Melandri’s averag🅷e pace from 2007, in which he was second, was 2m02.784s.

Melandri criticism fails to consider reality

Whi♈le Iannone’s headline time on Friday morning that put🌠 him ninth was skewed by him running fresh rubber while many didn’t, Melandri’s comment overlooks several key details.

The first is that Iannone’s last ride on a MotoGP bike came at the post-season Jerez test in 2019 - aero development was not advanced as it is now, while ride height devices were only justܫ being🍒 used by Ducati.

Almost five years of bike and tyre development went on while Iannone served his four-year doping ban, while the jump from a Superbike to MotoGP mᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚachine has seldom seen anyone in recent times flourish.

Iannone had no testing time on the Ducati before his outing. Alvaro Bautista, whom Ianno🍃ne took a jab ꧃at after the Malaysian GP, did have a test on the GP23 before his Sepang wildcard last year - though he did complete the weekend with an injury.

At the end of Q1, Iannone was 0.076s behind Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro - three times a grand prix winner in Iannone’s absence - and only 0.314s ꦕaway from VR46 team-m🎶ate Marco Bezzecchi in 14th.

Iannone was only 0.383s from getting into Q2.ജ He struggled in the races, but admitted on Saturday that the bigg🃏est limitation “was Andrea” and not the bike. For him, riding a Superbike was like riding a bicycle compared to the physical demands of MotoGP.

Perhaps on paper Iannone’s weekend wi♈ll never stand out, ꦚbut that doesn’t mean he didn’t make an impact.

“He wrote ♊to me and said: ‘I’ve seen your data, man, how you ride,’” Iannone🌞 revealed of what championship leader Jorge Martin said to him at Sepang.

“And I was very excited. I realised that there are points where I am very close to other Ducati riders, the problem is that I still d🦩on’t know where to brake, I have no referenc🐽es of how much the bike can brake, I don’t use the tyres, brakes or aerodynamics to the maximum and, above all, I can’t brake hard physically.

“And these are things that you learn on the bike, you 💜do🦩n’t train at home. SBK has nothing to do with this bike.”