ANDREA IANNONE THE SPEED MASTER TEAM

ANDREA IANNONE THE SPEED MASTER TEAM

Andrea Iannone (born 9 August 1989 in Vasto, Province of Chieti) is an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who currently competes in the Moto2 world championship, for the Italian Speed Master Team.

He started on pocket bikes and became a championship front runner. He participated on the Italian and Spanish championships before moving to World Championship in 2005. On 4 May 2008 he claimed his first win at Shanghai in China under wet conditions. Until this point he had never finished higher than ninth, at the Turkish Grand Prix, and French Grand Prix in 2007, although he had qualified as high as seventh. In 2009 he won the first two races, 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. Iannone then said "he disgusts me, as does his bike. Spaniards are like that", which were heavily criticised, before he released a press statement apologising to Espargaró.