From a mini-moto child racer to a successful Superbike team manager: the rise of Denis Sacchetti

Denis Sacchetti doesn’t put a foot wrong. For years he was the youngest team manager in the Superbike World Championship. Time passes. In January 2026 he turned 40, but he still has the same enthusiasm as at the beginning.

He is perhaps the most approachable, passionate, and genuine sporting director in the entire championship. Even in complicated moments he never loses his cordiality, an innate gift. This year Go Eleven is sailing smoothly. Lorenzo Baldassarri is performing above expectations, and the team has already won the post-Iannone bet. But who is Denis Sacchetti, the boy, the man to whom Gianni Ramello entrusted the management of his team when he was still very young? Let’s find out together.

Denis Sacchetti was born in 1986 in the province of Cesena. At nine years old, for his First Communion, he received a pocket bike as a gift. The beginning of everything. Denis grew up among races, paddocks, and sacrifices, quickly learning what it means to live for speed.

The results didn’t take long to arrive. In 1997 he took fifth place in the Italian Pocket Bike Championship, while in 1999 he was crowned Junior B European Champion. The following year he was already a leading figure in the Senior A category as well, finishing second in both the European and Italian championships. In the meantime, he made his debut in the Italian 125 Championship riding the “Gnani,” a hand-built bike crafted by Gabriele Gnani—a romantic and unconventional choice that says a lot about his character. In an era when almost everyone was betting on factory Hondas or Aprilias, Sacchetti chose the harder path, that of pure passion.

Between 2001 and 2002 he continued in the 125 class, racing in the Italian and European Championships with the RCGM team, sharing the paddock with riders destined to become major figures in world motorcycling. But the decisive moment came in the winter of 2002, when he tested a Yamaha 600 Supersport. It was love at first sight. At just 17, he decided to leave the small two-strokes for the powerful Japanese four-cylinders—a choice many considered a gamble.

Denis answered on track. In 2003 he had an extraordinary season in the European Supersport Championship: he took four pole positions and two international victories, and also won the Paolo Tordi Cup with three wins. That year also saw his debut in the Supersport World Championship at Imola, where he finished eighteenth in his first race.

The talent and speed he showed convinced Team Italia to bet on him for the 2004 Supersport World Championship. Sacchetti thus became one of the youngest riders in the series. He regularly finished in the points despite his age and inexperience. Behind the helmet was also a boy with an open and genuine character, deeply attached to the value of the team. For him, results never depended solely on the rider: “Without the work of the mechanics and the team, no one can truly be fast,” he said in interviews at the time.

His racing career continued between the Supersport World Championship and Stock 1000, until a serious accident at Assen in 2006 compromised his path as a rider. From that difficulty came a second professional life.

In 2009 he met Gianni Ramello and began his adventure with the Go Eleven team. In a short time he became one of the youngest and most respected team managers in the Superbike paddock. His experience as a former rider allows him to build authentic relationships with his riders, understanding their pressures, fears, and ambitions. With Go Eleven he achieved prestigious results such as Best Independent Team and Best Independent Rider in 2020 with Michael Rinaldi. He also fielded other champions such as Chaz Davies, Eugene Laverty, and in 2024 and 2025 Andrea Iannone. With the rider from Abruzzo, the challenge was exciting but turned out to be more difficult than expected, and not due to any shortcomings of the team. Let’s say the right alignment of the stars never quite happened.

Go Eleven therefore decided to turn the page and bet on Lorenzo Baldassarri. The financial aspect probably played in favor of the rider from the Marche region, but not only that. Denis Sacchetti has always held him in high regard and has always believed in his potential. Balda did not disappoint expectations, and the results speak for themselves. In the first race of the season he stepped onto the podium, took third in the Superpole Race in Hungary, and is almost always among the frontrunners.

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