2024 was an important year for Andrea Iannone, who made his full-time debut in World Superbike. Upon his return to competition, the Abruzzo rider was able to savor the joy of victory again, taking a win at Aragon and four other podiums, riding the Ducati Panigale V4R of the Go Eleven team. The same bike with which he will return to the grid in 2025, aiming to continue his progression.
"Twelve months ago I would never have imagined that I could get results, even though I hoped to. Whereas now I'm angry, because I know we could have maybe done something more and we left something behind. However, this is all experience that we will carry with us into 2025," Andrea admitted during the team presentation.
Reviewing some of the iconic moments of the past season, The Maniac could not help but dwell on the emotions he felt returning to the top step of the podium for the first time.
"That is definitely a win that has a different meaning for me, because I was returning to racing after a long time. For people, after the second race everything was normal, but for me it wasn't: I know how tiring it was. When you're stopped for so long, in our sport it's not easy to regain the automatisms, to find the speed you used to have and to have the rhythm to do the races. Especially in a championship that is completely new to me. When we won there in Aragon, it was a great release for me. Because I wanted to win from day one, but it is never easy to do so. We managed to build this success throughout the year, and I want to thank the team because despite the difficulties we faced, we also did some good things. I hope we can do a little better this year," said the rider from Abruzzo, setting the bar for next season: "To finish third in the championship, as Gianni Ramello says, is very optimistic for me today. Gianni is very ambitious, however, in my opinion, sometimes ambition outweighs talent. So, let's see. In my opinion we will be able to do better than this year. We have changed some important figures within the team, at least one, so we will see how we will start, how we will be and where we will be. Let's hope well."
Another memorable moment experienced by Andrea in 2024 was his return to MotoGP, to replace the injured Fabio Di Giannantonio in Sepang, on the VR46 team's Desmosedici.
"It was good. It was a race with no expectations. I went there to have fun, and so it was. The bike is so easy-you have much less trouble going fast than you think. Our bike, in many ways, is much more difficult, because it moves a lot more and everything works better in MotoGP right away," he commented, "It was good, also because the bike does a lot more things than when I was racing in MotoGP. The only problem was that I wasn't trained for that bike-I could do a lap. After five years, it wasn't bad to finish qualifying 7 tenths behind Marquez, with the same bike, getting the last two corners of the last sector wrong. I was delighted. The problem is that I left MotoGP with 320 mm discs and found it with 355 mm discs, and that makes you realize how much more force it can take just to perform braking. Plus, the load is much greater than when I was riding, so the bike is harder in changes of direction and has also become longer. That was the difficulty a little bit, but for me, once you're on it, it's a very nice bike, fun and easy to ride."
What does Iannone have left from last year?
"The 2024 left me with something I already knew in part, like the commitment, the dedication, the fact that if you believe in things and you really want them, one way or another you can make it. You have to keep believing in your dreams, and that's what I'm trying to do, even though it's never easy, because there are some difficult moments," he replied, "But I'm used to a slightly higher bar than I've had until now, and for me, right now, that's an advantage. So let's go ahead and try to bring everything to satisfactory results and have fun, which is an important aspect."