The Go Eleven-Baldassarri revival and SBK's problems: the interview with Denis Sacchetti

Corsedimoto interviewed Denis Sacchetti, Go Eleven team manager in the Superbike World Championship: there’s satisfaction with how 2026 has started with Baldassarri.

After closing the two-year stint with Andrea Iannone, the Go Eleven team started anew with Lorenzo Baldassarri, and the first two rounds of the 2026 Superbike calendar are already rewarding that choice. On his debut at Phillip Island, he immediately took the podium in Race 1, the first for the rider from the Marche region in the class. In the overall standings he has 40 points, double what he collected in 2023 with the GMT94 Yamaha team. The foundations are there for a great championship. We discussed it with team manager Denis Sacchetti.

"It’s been a surprising start; we’re happy and proud. We didn’t expect it—not because we didn’t know Baldassarri’s qualities—but since we’d done hardly any dry laps in winter testing and he was coming from a very different championship like MotoE, it seemed unthinkable that he could be so competitive right from the first race. They say Phillip Island is a one-off track, but he was fast at Portimão as well, where he also had a forearm issue. On Saturday evening he told me he wouldn’t be able to finish the race (HERE our interview with the rider), then he gritted his teeth and finished sixth in Race 2. We’re working on it, and I’m confident we’ll have solved the problem by the next round. Beyond the positive results, what makes us even happier is the harmony that has formed within the team. A lot of credit goes to the rider: to have a positive atmosphere the team is important, but ultimately it’s the rider who makes the final difference—he’s the captain who leads everyone else. Balda has been excellent, a delightful person. We’re a group of friends who laugh, joke, and “stack wood,” as he says. We have fun, we feel good, we’re calm, and I hope we keep going like this all year."

"It was a gamble for both sides. We certainly backed a rider no one expected, even if we can’t claim to have discovered his talent. Now we’re trying to enhance it by giving him what he needs, but we already saw in Moto2 and Supersport how fast he can be. Balda bet a lot on himself by returning to such an important championship as Superbike. An excellent feeling developed between us right away. When the atmosphere is positive, the technical package is at a high level, and the rider can twist the throttle, then things come naturally. Clearly, there are areas where we need to grow: we don’t feel we’ve arrived—there’s still a long way to go. The competition will be stronger in the coming rounds, so we want to be ready."

"The bike is new and was born very well. At this stage we’re thinking, ‘What does this bike need to go fast? And how should the rider ride it to make it go fast?’ Bulega has understood perfectly how to ride it—he’s an example to follow. We’re trying to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the new Ducati to have a baseline of optimal performance in all conditions. Balda is working very hard on himself to grasp how to ride it at its best. We need to work on the electronics, which are very complex on this bike; we have to understand how to exploit them to the maximum. There’s another important aspect we’re working on: ergonomics, since he’s very tall and we need to manage that effectively."

"With the double-sided swingarm it’s become an easier bike to ride than before, because it’s much more balanced between the front and rear. The front and rear work in harmony, which wasn’t the case with the single-sided swingarm—the bike had become more nervous in the past. They found a good balance and that generates stability that helps you in riding; you can be more consistent over laps. I think that’s the biggest advantage we’ve seen so far. Then there’s also been a step forward in terms of ergonomics, because there’s a better tank, a better seating position, better manageability."

"We’ll all start on equal footing, since no one has tested there. We need to see whether on a track that’s different from both Phillip Island and Portimão the bike will behave differently and if there will be areas where we need to work more. I don’t know if we’ll discover any weak points—I hope not! After the first races we’ve done, I think aiming for the top 5 is a realistic goal for all the 2026 races. And when there’s an opportunity, like in Australia, we can also aim for the podium."

"Right now, Bulega is excellent and incredibly strong. He’s in one of the best teams in the Superbike World Championship; at the moment it seems hard to imagine someone stopping him. I like to think someone will manage it on some tracks, to add a bit more excitement to the championship. BMW has the budget, riders, and potential—all the resources to close the gap to the Bulega-Ducati pairing."

"For the moment, none of the Liberty Media people have introduced themselves to us. We don’t know what changes there will be in management, we haven’t received any feedback on their ideas. In any case, I believe something significant needs to be done to improve Superbike, and it would be helpful to act as soon as possible. Then it’s clear that right now they might be prioritizing getting MotoGP in order, and they’ll think about us afterward. Maybe they need an initial phase to really understand the SBK world before making their moves. From what I’ve gathered about Liberty Media, it’s a company that, when it decides to act, does so quickly and decisively, without getting lost in chatter. I think the most important problem of the Superbike World Championship isn’t the technical regulations, but the lack of media presence. There’s a shortage of TV coverage, reporters at the races, few people talk about this championship and no one promotes it. There’s almost no one telling the story before and after the races; the public isn’t being intrigued about SBK. I’m not even sure the race times are right, which is a very important factor."

"I think it’s right that the main race is the last on the schedule, otherwise there’s a risk the public leaves the circuit before the other categories. I understand that’s their reasoning, but in my opinion the whole program should be reshuffled a bit so that Superbike falls at a time when people are at home and can watch TV. On weekends at 3:30 p.m., a lot of people are out and about; instead of watching the races, they might just check on social media to see what happened".