'Belief, balance' put Iannone back on podium

After going a full season without silverware, Suzuki was celebrating back-to-back MotoGP podiums in Austin on Sunday.

A third place for Andrea Iannone, his first rostrum since Valencia 2016 with Ducati, followed hot on the heels of the same result by team-mate Alex Rins in Argentina.

Suzuki has thus finished in the MotoGP top three, with two different riders in the same season, for the first time since John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen in 2007.

For 2016 race winner Iannone, Austin was a perfect time to post a reminder of his talents. Team-mate Rins is set to be retained by Suzuki for 2019-2020, but there are rumours of big-name riders in contention for Iannone's seat.

"I also heard the rumours about Lorenzo, Pedrosa," Rins said earlier in the weekend. "Sincerely I don’t know what will happen. What I know is that Andrea has his contract now and I don’t know what he will eventually do. The truth is that I’m good with him. He’s a good guy and I think we can do good things this year."

Iannone's breakthrough rostrum came after a confident ride that saw the #29 snatch the holeshot from second on the grid.

Although passed by race winner Marc Marquez on the opening lap, he briefly re-passed the Honda star before settling into third behind Maverick Vinales from lap 7 onwards.

"This podium is really important for me," Iannone said. "I struggled a lot during last year. Last year it was like everything is difficult in every moment. But always I continue to believe in me, believe in my goal, in Suzuki. We continue to work at 100%.

"At the end we arrive on the podium today. I think it’s a good result for us after a really good weekend. I’m really happy. In any case, it’s important, now we come back in Europe and last year Jerez and Le Mans are two difficult tracks for us. But I think in any case this year we arrive in a different situation. I arrive with a good energy, with a better feeling with the bike. For sure I hope we continue this way."

Explaining what the better feeling was, Iannone added:

"The balance on the bike. From the winter tests we start to work a lot on the balance. Last year I struggled a lot on the braking point. It’s very difficult for me to overtake in the corner always. This year we focus in this area.

"I arrive here at the third race and I think we are on the good way. We work with patience and at the end improve. I’m really happy. The most important is we continue this way."

Iannone feels he can also be strong during the next round at Jerez and has high hopes for his home round at Mugello, although the long straight is a concern.

"Never say never. This year MotoGP is really difficult to predict. I hope the next one [Jerez] is also a good track for me.

"In Mugello I also think it's possible to have a good performance because the characteristic of the bike is that fast corners and long corners are good for us.

"But also we have a long straight. At the moment we lose a lot on the straight. For sure it’s important that we improve a little bit the engine and other things."

Fortunately for Iannone, Suzuki is able to conduct engine development during the season, having regained technical concession at the start of this year.

The back-to-back 2018 podiums mean Suzuki has scored 2 of the allowed 6 concession points in a season (concession points are awarded: 3 for 1st, 2 for 2nd, 1 for 3rd).

Should Suzuki reach 6 concession points in the remaining 16 rounds they will re-join Honda, Yamaha and Ducati under the stricter private testing, engine change and engine development regulations.

Rins failed to finish in Austin after crashing out of eighth.