Source: Supplied.

Andrea Iannone believes his tyre strategy was key in claiming a thrilling podium finish at the weekend’s 14th round of the 2018 MotoGP World Championship in Aragon, Spain.

The Team Suzuki Ecstar rider challenged lead duo Marc Marquez (Respol Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) on a number of occasions in the 23-lap stint, momentarily taking the lead at one stage before settling into P3 across the finish line.

It comes as satisfying result for the Italian, who has experienced difficulties in recent rounds of the series, boosting his confidence in the final sector of the championship.

“I think we’ve done a really good performance today,” Iannone reflected. “I started well but Lorenzo had an unfortunate crash and that was a shame to see, it’s always bad to see a crash in front of you. But in any case I’m very happy about my race, I was fighting and pushing at 100 percent at the end of the race, but only at the end, because in the earlier laps I wanted to conserve the tyres.

“So I tried to manage the throttle and my riding style because I knew it would be really important to have tyre life in the last laps. I think my strategy worked really well and the team and I have worked hard together. We were losing out down the straight but we’re so happy to return to the podium after some disappointing races.”

Iannone now sits ninth in the championship standings as the series heads to Thailand on 7 October for the 15th stop of the championship.