MotoGP: Iannone an Option for Pramac in 2021

Pramac Ducati team manager Francesco Guidotti says that he would not rule out a reunion with their former rider Andrea Iannone.

The Italian fell from favour after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid and recently received an eighteen month doping ban that left his MotoGP future unclear.

Guidotti now admitted that a deal seeing Iannone return to Pramac in 2021 “could be done” under the right conditions.

The Pramac manager stated that, despite being focused on developing young talents, if they were in need of a rider in 2021 and Iannone was available, pending the outcome of his appeal against the doping suspension, they would consider a reunion with their former rider.

Speaking to Sky Italia he said:

“We are mainly oriented towards young people and Iannone would be in his 30s, but historically we love him: if we were in a situation where we needed a new rider and he was looking for a motorcycle, it could be done.” – Francesco Guidotti

Iannone debuted in MotoGP with Pramac in 2013 and had been part of the outfit for two seasons before being promoted to the official Ducati squad. He went on to win the 2016 Austrian GP aboard a Desmosedici but was dropped from the set-up at the end of the season in favour of Jorge Lorenzo and moved on to Suzuki.

Guidotti hinted at a sense of unfinished business around Pramac’s partnership with Iannone and that they would therefore be open to a reunion:

“It is clear that with him, unlike with others, we did not reap the benefits of our work because in the two years he was with us we were in a very difficult technical situation. We were not able to make a podium and the desire to do something together has remained.

“It would be nice to close the circle with Andrea. He took his own path, but there is still a bond.

“If it ever happens that we find ourselves in the right conditions, nobody forbids concluding an agreement.”

Iannone himself recently expressed in an Instagram Q&A that he regrets having left Ducati:

“In hindsight you would always change something from your past. In my case I should not have gone away from Ducati.

“The 2015 and 2016 seasons had been very good for me. The bike in particular was impressive in acceleration and braking but suffered on corner entry. I switched to Suzuki and found the opposite.”

A move back to Pramac for Iannone would require at least one of the team’s current riders Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia, who are both on factory Ducati deals, to leave the outfit and for Iannone to be chosen over upcoming Moto2 talent.

Guidotti named Jorge Navarro, Jorge Martin, and Xavi Vierge as “interesting” riders in the intermediate category that could come between Iannone and a return to Pramac.

The Aprilia MotoGP team that Iannone is currently contracted to meanwhile stated that they would like to retain the Italian rider for 2021.

Although Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola initially suggested that a lengthy doping suspension would likely lead to a split between Iannone and the factory, he recently labelled the eighteen month ban as “absurd” and expressed Aprilia’s support for their rider.

Guidotti acknowledged that Iannone’s current engagement might cancel out a reunion with his former team:

“I think he is fine where he is at the moment. Aprilia realised it needed him, it realised he is a strong, fast rider. I don’t think it is going to let him get away.”