Superbike: Go Eleven's power of lightness - "We got a few things off our chest"

"Take life lightly; lightness is not superficiality, but gliding over things from above, not having boulders on your heart" This quote by Italo Calvino captures the atmosphere within Team Go Eleven in the immediate post-Iannone period.

Lightness, serenity, smiles: the Piedmontese squad is experiencing a new spring that doesn’t come from the ray of sunshine of the Phillip Island tests with Lorenzo Baldassarri immediately very fast, but from a no-stress approach. Denis Sacchetti, Go Eleven Team Manager, spent quite a few sleepless nights last year; today, instead, he can sleep like a child after a bedtime story.

"I’m very, very happy," Denis Sacchetti tells Corsedimoto. "When we arrived at Phillip Island we didn’t know what to expect. We had high hopes, but Baldassarri surprised everyone with how he worked, the approach he took, how he’s working as a rider, and the atmosphere he created inside the garage. He brought back clear skies, a truly beautiful vibe: we’re having fun. Lorenzo has worked a lot on himself, focusing above all on that—on his riding, on growing, learning the bike, the tires... He was really excellent. They were only tests, so it doesn’t mean anything yet, but we’ve started to shake a few... pebbles from our shoes and that feels great!".

If the morning shows the day...

"Over the race weekend we want to stay on this path, work with this mood, and grow," continues Sacchetti, "if we keep going like this we can have fun both in Australia and throughout the whole year. Balda has taken a professional yet at the same time light approach. I can’t find a better word to express it than ‘light.’ Lorenzo Baldassarri makes us work with pleasure and motivation. We’re happy and can’t wait to start the race weekend and, as he says, to ‘stack some wood.’"

Go Eleven has shaken out a few pebbles, while Lorenzo Baldassarri is shaking out stones. Many times he was written off, and not only back in his Grand Prix days. In the Superbike paddock there are various people who didn’t believe in him—or at least not enough. Now, however, he has found the right team.

"I’m very happy because the starting point is very good, even above expectations," Lorenzo Baldassarri tells us. "Now we have to keep working step by step and make steady progress. I’m happy because the atmosphere inside the garage is the right one. We’re a great team. We must continue with this approach even on race weekends. Clearly there will be more pressure and tighter timelines, but everything is built together. Even though I’ve only done one dry test, I already feel this bike is mine. Now we’re trying to make some changes to tailor it to me and become one with the bike. I’m very satisfied nonetheless."