Andrea Iannone

Andrea Iannone
Iannone at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix.
Nationality	Italian
Born	9 August 1989[1] Vasto, Italy
Current team	Team Suzuki Ecstar
Bike number	29
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2013–2016 Manufacturers Ducati Championships 0 2016 championship position 9th (112 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 65 1 7 2 3 459 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2010–2012 Manufacturers Speed Up-Honda, Suter-Honda Championships 0 2012 championship position 3rd (194 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 51 8 19 5 13 570 125cc World Championship Active years 2005–2009 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 0 2009 championship position 7th (125.5 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 77 4 5 3 1 292.5

Andrea Iannone (born 9 August 1989) is an Italian professional MotoGP rider who currently competes in the MotoGP world championship, for the factory Suzuki team.^[2]

Early Life

Iannone was born in the Adriatic coastal town of Vasto, on August 9, 1989, and again like any other motorcycle rider his interest in bikes came at a very early age. Like many other top riders, he refined his riding abilities first in Minamoto's, Iannone also has one older brother called Angelo who follows Andrea to all the tracks.

Career

125cc World Championship

Iannone at the 2009 Catalan Grand Prix

Born in Vasto, Province of Chieti, Iannone – like many other riders – started his career on pocket bikes and soon became a championship front runner. He participated in both the Italian and Spanish championships before moving to World Championship in 2005. On 4 May 2008, Iannone claimed his first win at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, in wet conditions. Prior to the victory, he had never finished higher than ninth, at the Turkish and French Grands Prix in 2007, although he had previously qualified as high as seventh. In the 2009 125cc season he won the first two races of the season, establishing himself as a championship contender, however he faded to seventh overall, with only one more win. During the race at Misano, Iannone provoked an accident with Pol Espargaró. After the incident, images showed the riders arguing in the gravel and Iannone headbutted Espargaró. This was heavily criticised by the media and lost Iannone some sponsorship; Iannone then apologised to Espargaró at the next race at Estoril.^[3]

Moto2 World Championship

In 2010, Iannone moved up to the new Moto2 series, his first time riding anything other than an Aprilia. After a slow start he took victories at Mugello and Assen – both from pole – making him the first rider to take two poles in the class,^[4] to move up to fourth overall in the standings.^[5] He was also competitive in Barcelona, but received a ride-through penalty for overtaking Yuki Takahashi under yellow flag conditions.^[6] He then went on to win again at Motorland Aragón, a track which was new to the MotoGP calendar in 2010.

Iannone at the 2011 Czech Republic Grand Prix

2011 proved to be a very up and down season for Iannone, with inconsistency being his major downfall. Whilst being the only other rider besides Stefan Bradl and Marc Márquez to win more than one race, he would often find himself qualifying well outside the top 10, but finished the season in third place after beating Alex de Angelis in the final race of the season in Valencia. On the Tuesday following the race, Iannone tested a MotoGP bike for Gresini Racing in Valencia.^[7]

Iannone remained in the class for the 2012 season, finishing second in the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix, having led the race out of the final corner and losing out to the straight line speed of Marc Márquez's bike.^[8] He finished fourteenth, fifth and fourth over the next three races, before taking his first victory of the season in the Catalan Grand Prix.^[9] He went on to get another podium at Assen. After this, he won his home race at Mugello wearing the colours of a nearby fire station.

MotoGP World Championship

Pramac Racing (2013–2014)

In 2013, after another third place in the Moto2 championship, Iannone moved up into MotoGP on a Ducati Desmosedici with Pramac Racing. He finished the season in twelfth place with five top-ten finishes. His best result was an eighth place at the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, but the second part of his season was affected by a shoulder injury suffered during free practice at the German Grand Prix. The injury also forced him to miss the United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca.^[10]

In 2014 he continued to race with Pramac Racing, with teammate Yonny Hernández.

Ducati Corse (2015–2016)

For the 2015 season, Iannone replaced Cal Crutchlow at Ducati Corse, and partners Andrea Dovizioso in the team. Iannone achieved his first MotoGP podium on his Ducati début, finishing third in Qatar.^[11] At Austin, he finished in fifth place behind Jorge Lorenzo, and also recorded the first fastest lap of his MotoGP career. Iannone was on course for a second podium in Argentina, but was passed for third on the final lap, by Crutchlow.^[12] At Phillip Island Iannone was involved in a lengthy four-way battle for first with three former world champions Lorenzo, Marc Márquez, and Valentino Rossi. He finished third after overtaking Rossi on the final lap with three corners remaining.

He began his 2016 season well, leading at Losail for 6 laps before low-siding, allowing his team-mate to overtake. The following Grand Prix in Argentina saw Iannone in 3rd before attempting a last lap overtake of his team-mate Dovizioso, resulting in both riders falling. Iannone was penalised by Race Direction with a penalty point and three places on his following starting grid placement. Despite these punishments Iannone finished his first race of the season on the podium with a 3rd place behind Marc Márquez and Jorge Lorenzo, ending his season-spanning four race long run of race retirements. He raced aggressively at Catalunya, and eliminated Lorenzo from 5th place, effectively giving Marquez the championship lead.

Team Suzuki (2017)

The Italian will ride the Factory GSX-RR in the MotoGP World Championship for the upcoming two years following the 2016 season. It was recently confirmed that Iannone will be joined by Alex Rins as his teammate.

Nicknames

The first notable nickname Iannone had was during the 2010 Misano Circuit Moto2 race where he wore a helmet inspired by the incredible hulk. The writing on the back of the helmet read "The Incredible Iannhulk". In 2011, Iannone sported the nickname "Crazy Joe" on the back of his leathers, a nickname his friends had given him, he is called this because of his aggressive and unbelievable racing maneuvers. In 2012, "Crazy Joe" had changed to "The Maniac Joe" just to emphasize the first nickname even further. At Mugello, Iannone used the colour scheme of a nearby fire station and for that race alone gained the nickname "Joe the Firefighter".

Career statistics

By seasons

Season	Class	Motocycle	Type	Team	Number	Races	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLaps	Pts	Position
2005	125cc	Aprilia	Aprilia RS 125	Abruzzo Racing Team	29	16	0	0	0	0	20	20th
2006	125cc	Aprilia	Aprilia RS 125	TicinoHosting Campetella Junior Team	29	11	0	0	0	0	15	22nd
2007	125cc	Aprilia	Aprilia RS 125	WTR Blauer USA	29	17	0	0	0	0	26	20th
2008	125cc	Aprilia	Aprilia RSV 125	I.C. Team	29	17	1	1	1	0	106	10th
2009	125cc	Aprilia	Aprilia RSA 125	Ongetta Team I.S.P.A	29	16	3	4	2	1	125.5	7th
2010	Moto2	Speed Up	FTR Moto M210	Fimco Speed Up	29	17	3	8	5	6	199	3rd
2011	Moto2	Suter	Suter MMXI	Speed Master	29	17	3	6	0	7	177	3rd
2012	Moto2	Speed Up	Speed Up S12	Speed Master	29	17	2	5	0	0	194	3rd
2013	MotoGP	Ducati	Ducati GP13	Energy T.I. Pramac Racing	29	16	0	0	0	0	57	12th
2014	MotoGP	Ducati	Ducati GP14	Pramac Racing	29	17	0	0	0	0	102	10th
2015	MotoGP	Ducati	Ducati GP15	Ducati Team	29	18	0	3	1	1	188	5th
2016	MotoGP	Ducati	Ducati GP16	Ducati Team	29	14	1	4	1	2	112	9th
Total						193	13	31	10	17	1321.5

By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	2005–2009	2005 Spain	2008 China	2008 China	77	4	5	3	1	292.5	0
Moto2	2010–2012	2010 Qatar	2010 Italy	2010 Italy	51	8	19	5	13	570	0
MotoGP	2013–2016	2013 Qatar	2015 Qatar	2016 Austria	65	1	7	2	3	459	0
Total	2005–Present				193	13	31	10	17	1321.5	0

Races by year

(Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap of the race)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Points
2005	125cc	Aprilia	SPA 21	POR 26	CHN 18	FRA 23	ITA 16	CAT 11	NED 26	GBR Ret	GER Ret	CZE 11	JPN 13	MAL 18	QAT 19	AUS Ret	TUR 10	VAL 15			20th	20
2006	125cc	Aprilia	SPA 15	QAT 13	TUR 15	CHN 13	FRA 9	ITA DSQ	CAT 17	NED Ret	GBR 17	GER 24	CZE	MAL Ret	AUS	JPN	POR	VAL			22nd	15
2007	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 15	SPA 12	TUR 9	CHN 11	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 17	GBR 15	NED 20	GER 24	CZE Ret	RSM 14	POR 18	JPN 10	AUS 20	MAL 18	VAL 20		20th	26
2008	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 14	SPA 18	POR 11	CHN 1	FRA 5	ITA 12	CAT Ret	GBR Ret	NED 8	GER 11	CZE 9	RSM 6	IND Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 4	MAL 10	VAL 6		10th	106
2009	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 1	JPN 1	SPA 19	FRA 7	ITA Ret	CAT 1	NED 4	GER 7	GBR Ret	CZE 3	IND Ret	RSM Ret	POR Ret	AUS 8	MAL 8	VAL Ret			7th	125.5
2010	Moto2	Speed Up	QAT 19	SPA Ret	FRA 4	ITA 1	GBR 12	NED 1	CAT 13	GER 2	CZE 3	IND 4	RSM Ret	ARA 1	JPN 13	MAL 3	AUS 3	POR 21	VAL 2		3rd	199
2011	Moto2	Suter	QAT 2	SPA 1	POR 13	FRA Ret	CAT 15	GBR 16	NED 12	ITA 5	GER 14	CZE 1	IND 11	RSM 3	ARA 2	JPN 1	AUS 8	MAL 9	VAL 11		3rd	177
2012	Moto2	Speed Up	QAT 2	SPA 14	POR 5	FRA 4	CAT 1	GBR 4	NED 2	GER 16	ITA 1	IND 9	CZE 4	RSM 3	ARA 4	JPN 17	MAL 5	AUS Ret	VAL 11		3rd	194
2013	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 9	AME 10	SPA Ret	FRA 11	ITA 13	CAT Ret	NED 13	GER DNS	USA	IND 11	CZE 9	GBR 11	RSM Ret	ARA 10	MAL Ret	AUS 8	JPN 14	VAL Ret	12th	57
2014	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 10	AME 7	ARG 6	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 7	CAT 9	NED 6	GER 5	IND Ret	CZE 5	GBR 8	RSM 5	ARA Ret	JPN 6	AUS Ret	MAL DNS	VAL 22	10th	102
2015	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 3	AME 5	ARG 4	SPA 6	FRA 5	ITA 2	CAT 4	NED 4	GER 5	IND 5	CZE 4	GBR 8	RSM 7	ARA 4	JPN Ret	AUS 3	MAL Ret	VAL Ret	5th	188
2016	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT Ret	ARG Ret	AME 3	SPA 7	FRA Ret	ITA 3	CAT Ret	NED 5	GER 5	AUT 1	CZE 8	GBR Ret	RSM DNS	ARA DNS	JPN	AUS	MAL Ret	VAL 3	9th	112

References

1. "Andrea Iannone". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
2. "Talmacsi e Iannone con il Team Speedup". MotoGrandPrix.it (in Italian). Motomondiale. 7 November 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
3. "Iannone offers apology to Espargaro". motogp.com. Dorna Sports. 4 July 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
4. "First double pole by Iannone at Assen". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 25 June 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
5. "Another Iannone runaway at Assen". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 26 June 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
6. O'Leary, Jamie (4 July 2010). "Takahashi takes maiden victory". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
7. Margaria, Alice (5 November 2011). "Iannone to test the Gresini Honda". GPOne. Buffer Overflow srl. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
8. Suddaby, Louis (8 April 2012). "Marquez Takes Thrilling Last Lap Win In Qatar". The Checkered Flag. BlackEagleMedia Network. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
9. "Iannone wins Catalunya thriller". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 3 June 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
10. "Iannone still suffering with injured shoulder". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
11. "MotoGP Losail: Emotional Iannone overwhelmed by Qatar podium". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
12. "Rossi wins in Argentina after clashing with Marquez". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 19 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Andrea Iannone on Twitter