It’s been a 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season to remember for Team GoEleven as the Italian team returned to the podium in the first race of the season with headlining rookie Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven). The MotoGP™ Grand Prix winner is back after a four year absence and has shown his potential to fight for victories. Reviewing 2024 so far and also whether or not ‘The Maniac’ will be back with them for 2025, team manager Denis Sacchetti spoke of all the major topics.
“IT’S BEEN AN EMOTIONAL SEASON” – a return to form for Team GoEleven
“Better than last year” began a blunt and humorous Sacchetti. “I think that we’ve had a big challenge with Andrea this year and I think we’ve already won the challenge. After four years, he’s having a season like this which is really good and we are really happy. We know that he is still competitive and that he can fight for the podium in every race. We have big potential that we haven’t used until now. There’re many things that we can improve together but because it’s the first year in this Championship for Andrea on these tyres, at new tracks with a bike he doesn’t know… he’s a real rookie here. Every race, there’s something new to learn but we’re there. I’m happy about the feeling between the team and rider. It’s been an emotional season but we’re really happy to be working together with him and Ducati this year.”
Speaking of the material they have at their disposal, Sacchetti said of the similarities to the bikes in the Aruba.it Racing box: “The bike is really similar compared to the official bike; for sure, more support from the manufacturer can help us but I’m really happy with our relationship with Ducati because they can really help us in every area. The main problem is that we need time to know everything, to create a package and use it at its best. This is our goal for the final rounds of the year.”
“WHEN I SAW ANDREA LEAD AT TURN 1, I THOUGHT ‘WOW’…” – magic from ‘The Maniac’
Casting his mind back to Phillip Island and Andrea Iannone getting the first holeshot of the year, ex-racer Sacchetti was in awe: “The first race in Australia was incredible because it was so unexpected from everyone. When I saw Andrea lead into the first corner, I just thought ‘wow’, it’s so difficult to say. The emotion was really, really high. I believed in him and perhaps there were many people that didn’t after four years. But he did what he did and I trusted him a lot.
“It will be fantastic and we’ll try our best. I think Andrea deserves it this year. After Magny-Cours, he’ll have three circuits that he knows better at Aragon, Estoril and Jerez. So, this can help us a lot because he knows the track and we start from a different situation. We can focus everything on the setting of the bike.”
“WE’LL KNOW BEFORE THE END OF AUGUST… WE ALREADY HAVE OTHER OPTIONS” – 2025 talk
Attention turns to 2025 and whether or not Iannone will stay: “I think we are really close to knowing what will happen next year. For us and him, it’s important to understand our future and we will know before the end of August. In 10 or 15 days, we’ll know the future of whether we’re together or not. For me, it’s the best solution if we stay together; I’d be really happy because after the first year, the second one will be with more knowledge about the tracks, tyres and the Championship. We could do a big step and be on the podium in every race. I am sure about this. If we don’t find a solution to stay together, I’ll be happy for him if he finds an official bike and team because he deserves it. Anyway, we already have other options that can bring another challenge, emotion and situation to discover. We will enjoy what will happen. The options aren’t just in WorldSSP but also in Superbike… we’ll wait for Andrea. You can understand that there are many riders looking for a bike next year, so there are more riders than bikes. Huertas is really good but there are many good riders in World Supersport, so we’ll see.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com