Monday, October 28, 2024, 16:28
Almost five years ago, Andrea Iannone‘s sporting life was falling apart. At the 2019 Malaysian Grand Prix the Italian tested positive for drostanolone. Although the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) initially imposed a sanction of 18 months, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) increased it to four years. The pilot’s defense alleged that the substance in question was in his body due to possible food contamination, but he had no choice but to accept a sentence that practically meant the end of his career.
With the disqualification completed in 2024, the doors of MotoGP were closed for Iannone, who still felt he could race at the highest level. Ducati, the brand with which he achieved his best results and his only victory in the premier class, gave him a new opportunity in the World Superbike Championship, in one of its private structures and with a motorcycle derived from production.
In his first race in the championship, the Italian achieved a podium at Phillip Island, in a dream comeback for him. And although he could not maintain that level all year, he finished the season in eighth position and achieving a victory at the Aragón circuit. Not bad for a 35-year-old pilot who had spent the last four years in dry dock.
The call from his friend Rossi
Iannone will compete again in 2025 in the World Superbike Championship with his same team and with the intention of challenging for the title in his second year in the championship. The Italian had already turned the page, with no hope of returning to the paddock where he had been for fifteen years. However, an opportunity has arisen that he did not expect, thanks to a call from an old friend, Valentino Rossi, owner of the VR46 team.
The left shoulder injury suffered by Fabio Di Giannantonio in the last few grand prix will force him to stop. The Italian, fourth in the last round in Thailand, has already traveled back to Rome to undergo surgery thinking about 2025 and will miss the last two rounds of the season in Malaysia and Valencia. In the first of them, the team has already announced that its replacement will be Andrea Iannone, who accepted without hesitation once the World Superbike Championship has ended.
«It is an honor that they thought of me and I did not hesitate to take advantage of this opportunity as soon as it was offered to me. The bet is, without a doubt, risky, complex and important, since I have not ridden a motorcycle in this category for years and without having done prior tests. But I am excited to work with Ducati and the VR46 team, both because of the very high level and because of the friendship that has united us for years.
This weekend, Iannone will get back on a MotoGP and, coincidences of life, he will do so in the same setting where he tested positive five years ago. The Italian rider does it without expectations, open to everything that may happen and with the intention of giving one last dance in MotoGP. Or not, because the VR46 has not yet decided who will get on his Ducati in the Valencia Grand Prix that will close the season.
