With time available to reflect on the shocking events at Misano on Sunday in an amazing 125cc event, Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. competitor Andrea Iannone has given a sincere apology to Pol Espargaró for excluding him out on the last lap and then seemingly headbutting the Spaniard.

The prior 125cc rankings leader was charged with a $5,000 fine by Race Direction straight after the event, however he then further boiled over the situation with harsh verbalisation stated to the Italian and Spanish press.

On Monday though through a press release sent out by his squad, Iannone explains, “I had been waiting for the Misano race for a long time and I had dreamed about achieving a good result in front of the Italian fans, but the dream turned into a nightmare a few metres from the finishing line.

He adds, “It was a great race, with both of us riding very correctly and with Pol Espargaró riding bravely, imposing his rhythm right until the end. But on the last corner I felt confident and certain I could get past him. I broke really hard, went on the inside, arrived at the apex and then when I thought I had got through the angle changed. I couldn’t do anything at that point to avoid the crash and I took Pol out of the equation as he was going around the outside and he had no fault in the crash. We hit the ground and all I could think of was that a big chance had been lost.”

“Then when I went to apologise to Espargaró he understandably reacted with some strong words and punched my bike,” Iannone says. “As Valentino Rossi said later I should have gone to apologise again but instead I lost my temper and I did something which I will always regret for the rest of my life. When I went back to the pit-box there were several journalists waiting for me and I made another mistake by saying some things in the heat of the moment which I really did not think. It was something that happened because of the intensity of the moment, after such a dramatic end to an amazingly close race.”

“On Sunday night, thinking through everything that had happened I was ashamed about what had happened with Pol and the things I said to the media afterwards. I have to say that I really appreciate Pol’s qualities as a rider, he is very fast and, like me, he tries to do the very best job he can. I want to apologise to everyone, to my team, to my sponsors and all fans of motorcycle racing. I am sure this will not happen again,” ended the 20 year-old.

An understandably unhappy Espargaró quoted on Sunday by saying, “I rode one of the best races of my life and then I ended up on the floor with my bike totally destroyed. Iannone tried to get through where there was no room, took me down and then when I asked for an explanation he headbutted me. As a sportsman he behaved in an unacceptable manner.”