Andrea Iannone had a great debut in the Superbike World Championship, even managing to get a podium in the opening round in Phillip Island – he finished third in the first Australian race.
The rider had been absent from the tracks for four years until last November, due to a doping case – which makes this result even more surprising.
His chief mechanic, Filippo Burgatti, was asked by the website GPOne.com about what the rider has grown the most in these months: ‘Andrea has grown a lot in terms of communication. He told us his needs and, consequently, we tried to start shaping the bike to him in the best possible way. There were no particular revolutions, except for Portimão where Andrea didn’t know the track. Here [in Phillip Island], however, the work was smooth. It’s just a matter of better understanding what his needs are‘.
The engineer also said: ‘He is very outgoing. He needs to be interpreted in some things. Therefore, we have to follow a direction and then narrow down the field of action, trying to focus on the most important things and having a basic setup to take to other tracks‘.
