SBK, Rider market flares up at Portimao: Yamaha wants Andrea Iannone

With the collaboration of Riccardo Guglielmetti.

The Superbike rider transfer market is beginning to heat up in this torrid summer, which just yesterday saw the announcement of the agreement between Garrett Gerloff and the Puccetti Racing team for next season. A major coup for the Akashi manufacturer and the Emilian team, whose news has set alight the Portimao paddock. The movements did not end there, however, because Yamaha is also working under the radar and has Andrea Iannone in its sights.

The satellite team of the Japanese manufacturer, namely GRT, finds itself with both of its riders' contracts expiring at the end of the year. But while the confirmation of Remy Gardner was never in question, the question of his teammate, Dominique Aegerter, is different. The 33-year-old Swiss is struggling more than expected to return to the levels that had allowed him to end his debut year in the category with a double podium. And with such underwhelming performances as those achieved in this first half of the season, the two-time Supersport champion is at a risk of losing his place. For this very reason, Yamaha is working to replace him with the most valuable piece on the market chessboard, namely Andrea Iannone.

The Maniac, for his part, has never hidden the fact that he wants factory treatment in his second year among the production-based series, but Alvaro Bautista's impending renewal with Ducati seems to have barred all the doors to him toward a factory Panigale V4R. To crown his ambitions, the rider from Vasto would therefore have no option but to switch to another manufacturer and perhaps accept precisely the challenge represented by the R1 of the GRT team. Whose contracts are all in the hands of Yamaha Motor Europe.

As if that were not enough, also supporting this operation are the sponsors PATA and Prometeon, which, as we well know, offer their support to Yamaha and at the same time to the rider from Vasto. In short: at Portimao the market is hotter than ever, with Iannone's name at the center of the negotiations. On the one hand, then, there is GoEleven, that is, the team that relaunched him after four years, ready to renew its trust in him for a 2025 together again riding the Panigale. On the other, he is being teased by the idea of switching to blue. One thing is certain: for Andrea Iannone it will be a decisive month of August for the future.