Andrea Iannone completed a four-year suspension due to a controversial doping case and in 2024 he is back in competition in the World Superbike Championship. The Team GoEleven rider has shown ability to fight for top positions and has already achieved a podium aboard a Ducati.
In the past in MotoGP, the Italian was linked to the Borgo Panigale manufacturer, whose CEO has praise for The Maniac. Claudio Domenicali told GPOne.com that it is a well-deserved moment for Iannone:
– Andrea’s return is greatly appreciated and he deserves everything that is happening and even more in the future. I believe he found himself in a situation bordering on the paradoxical in terms of how his situation evolved, considering that a first punishment was later extended, leaving perplexity in terms of evaluation. However, he is a top-form rider to compete in SBK.
Could Iannone return to MotoGP in the future – or, rather, does he have the capacity for it? Domenicali believes that in WSBK the level of demand and the suitability to the rider’s age group is higher: ‘Perhaps MotoGP is a more physically demanding category, probably offering more between the ages of 20 and 30. Later it becomes more complicated, but not impossible, unlike a less stressful SBK from the perspective of the loads it gives to the rider. Therefore, I believe that Iannone can have good races and a good second part of his career‘.
Iannone’s departure from Ducati happened at the end of 2017. Is a return possible in WSBK? The manufacturer’s executive stated: ‘This is absolutely possible. But he is getting along well with Ducati and I think there is room to consider a future together‘.
