Iannone counts cost of wet mapping blunder

Ducati's Andrea Iannone held his hands up after an unintentional electronics blunder ruined his front row start in the Jerez MotoGP.

Iannone went backwards at the start of the race and later explained that he had activated the machine's mapping setting for wet conditions instead of switching on launch control.

The Italian rider fought his way through from 11th place to eventually finish sixth and Iannone was left to count the cost of his error.

The buttons for both launch control and wet settings are placed on the inside of his left handlebar and after the race he revealed, "When I arrive in the first row, before the start, I put the wet map, not the launch control. This is a disaster for me, no?

"Because the bike change everything, change anti-wheelie, traction control, the power, everything change. This map is for the rain tyres, and rain tyres is really different profile and everything.

"When I understand this, is really 'heavy', because the light is red, then after three seconds, is green, and the race starts. After three laps it's difficult, because with wet condition, the map, the traction not work, and the bike is really incredibly bad, but after three or four laps, everything adjust a little bit, but not like for dry conditions."

Considering the early problems, Iannone was delighted with his ride through the pack. By lap five he was eighth and subsequent moves on Bradley Smith and Aleix Espargaro saw him claim ten vital points for his championship bid. Had the problem not occurred, Iannone was sure he could have challenged for the podium.

"I try my best, and with this problem, I'm so happy with my ride, for my performance. But sure, in a normal condition it is possible I fight for the podium with Marc, with Vale. I have this pace, because this morning in the warm up, I finish with 28 lap with the rear tyres and my last lap is 1'39.8s.

"I have a good feeling with the bike, with everything. In this weekend, my team work a lot, and the work is really strong for me. But OK, I'm sorry for Ducati, sorry for my team, and I'm looking forward to the Le Mans GP.

"In these four races, I have the potential to fight for the podium, and for sure this potential will also stay in Le Mans, and I continue with this mentality. But I can not possibly make this error [again] and I'll stay a little bit more focused before the race for sure, and I try my best for the future."

When asked whether it was possible to change back to the dry mapping after wrongly selecting the wet setting he said, "No, it's not possible to change back, because the buttons to push are really for when you are stopped, not riding.

"Then it is really easy, because you can press the buttons and change, but when you are racing, this is really difficult to go back, because the combination of that part is very complicated.

"To put wet condition mapping, only you touch and hold for 3 seconds and this map starts, but to change it back, is three buttons, and is really difficult to change back to dry conditions."