Andrea Iannone Set for Malaysia GP Comeback with VR46 Team

Andrea Iannone will make his long-awaited return to MotoGP at the Malaysia Grand Prix this week. The Italian rider appears for the first time since completing a four-year doping ban. He joins Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Racing Team, stepping in for Fabio di Giannantonio, who traveled to Rome for shoulder surgery. Expressing gratitude, Iannone said, “I’m honoured that they thought of me, and I felt like I had to say yes to this opportunity immediately as soon as it was offered to me.”

Acknowledging the challenges ahead, he added, “The challenge is certainly crazy, complex and demanding, as I haven’t ridden a bike in this category for years and without having done tests or similar.” The 35-year-old’s ban originated from a positive test for a banned anabolic steroid at the 2019 Malaysia Grand Prix which initially led to an 18-month suspension.

He appealed the decision but the Court of Arbitration for Sport extended his ban to four years which ended in December 2023. In February 2024, Andrea Iannone resumed his racing career in the Superbike World Championship and secured his first win in the series this past September. He has consistently asserted his innocence claiming that contaminated meat led to the accidental ingestion of the banned substance.

As he prepares for his MotoGP comeback, the racing community eagerly anticipates Iannone’s performance and watches how he navigates the challenges of rejoining the intense, high-stakes world of MotoGP.