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Q&A with Christian Iddon

Wednesday, 20 November 2013 15:48 GMT
Q&A with Christian Iddon

Christian Iddon lived up to expectations in his WSS rookie year, despite all the changes he had to deal with. The 28 year old from Stockport, England has built speed upon speed throughout the season and was able, thanks to the work done with his team, to fine-tune the debutant MV Agusta F3 and to ride it to a well-deserved rostrum finish at Magny-Cours.


Your rookie season was a big challenge. It was the first year for the F3 as well, you had to learn new tracks, no testing, but you managed to step on the podium in the penultimate race. What's your opinion on your 2013?


"The 2013 season was very nice. The championship result was really bad but this was not a true reflection of our season and in my opinion it was a very positive year. We knew immediately with a new bike things are never easy because you go to circuits and have no data to work from. From the middle of the season we found a nice base setting so even in the new tracks to me I was able to be comfortable quite quickly. As soon as we found this direction things became much more easy. There was also some missed opportunities even early in the year, like Assen, when I did not make good use of the bike and also Donington, when I was caught in a crash from 3rd position. From Silverstone onwards the bike became my bike and I was more comfortable, but also the racing was quite frustrating. We had quite a different engine characteristic to some other bikes so I was able to do lap times alone but racing was very difficult and the middle part of the season was like this. 
Turkey was a big turning point because the track was dirty and I could slide the bike and the power was not important, then in Magny-Cours we had a small engine upgrade but it made a very big difference. We were able to take the podium there and I think Turkey and Jerez would have also been in the top-3 but we were very unlucky with some technical issues."


What positives can you take from last season? What was the most difficult thing you had to deal with?


"The most positive thing for me is the way my team has worked and how hard they have tried to give me the best bike possible. Although the package was really the same for most of the season people were working very hard behind the scenes. At the track my team were so amazing to work with and I believe we got the very most out of the bike at that time. From my side I was very happy with the way I rode. As soon as we found the base setting I became very comfortable and I think my riding this season was the best it has been in all my life so far, but that is normal I suppose. I am still very new to racing with circuit bikes so every year is a step. I am also very happy because I was able to find a good setting with the help of my team on a new bike. Sometimes this can be quite difficult to do but we did well and I believe this bike is now ready maybe with one more engine step to win races and maybe even to win the championship."


What was the level of the series compared to your pre-season expectations?


"I have raced against Sam Lowes before so I knew already what the top level of rider would be. This season Sam and Kenan (Sofuoglu) were incredible and massive credit to them but this was not really a surprise. The big surprise was the depth of field. In national championship you can arrive inside the top placings usually even if you have a bad weekend of riding or bad set up. In World Championship it is impossible to give anything away and the racing is very intense. I enjoyed it a lot!"


What will you be doing next year?


"At the moment I do not know. There are some options and we have to evaluate them. Of course if I stay in World Supersport my goal will be to win but this is World Championship, it's very easy to say the words but very difficult to do it, but that would be the goal. Then there is possibly the chance to move to WSBK, this is very interesting to me because I like the power of the 1000cc. Even if I have to be in the new EVO class it would be quite a nice step. Then of course there is Moto2. It is something again very interesting to me because you have very similar equipment and you have to fight hard! This excites me a lot but at the moment nothing is secure. I hope to have everything finalised quite soon."