Source: Supplied.

A near-miss between Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aleix Espargaro and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Andrea Iannone caused the latter to crash in a scary pit stop mishap during Sunday’s eventful Czech grand prix at Brno.

Espargaro was released by Aprilia has Iannone was entering his pit box for the vital mid-race bike swaps, resulting in Iannone crashing in pit lane and damaging teammate Alex Rins’ bike in the process. He was eventually credited P19.

“I think we could have had a good race and I entered the pits on the fourth lap, but we encountered the unfortunate situation that as I was entering, Aleix Espargaro was leaving,” Iannone said. “To avoid each other, I had to break on top of a draining grate, otherwise I would have hit him. In these cases the regulation speaks clearly and the race direction has already taken measures. I could not do more than I did.”

Espargaro has called for the flag-to-flag regulations to be discussed in the next safety commission meeting, seeking change that would potentially make the process ‘less chaotic’ in the future. He was panalised three positions during the race on his way to eighth.

“I was one of the first to change bikes, but unfortunately the episode in pit lane involved Iannone,” Espargaro said. “Luckily there were no physical consequences for him and the guys on his team, but it is not easy to manage such a hectic situation – we will talk about it in safety commission. It seems appropriate to think of some change that would make the flag-to-flag situation less chaotic.”