Five years after being forced out of MotoGP by an anti-doping ban✱, Andrea Iannone returned🥂 to the paddock at Sepang on Thursday.

The Italian has been called up to replace the injured Fab🧔io di Giannantonio at VR46 Ducati, although he initially missed the call from friend and team owner Valentino꧟ Rossi.

“I was on the flight for Jerez, for the🐬 last round of sup🌠erbike, and when I arrived, I received a message from Vale,” Iannone recalled.

“Vale said, ‘F🅷**k Andrea, I called you but your telephone is off! When you see the message call b🍌ack, please, it's important’

“I thought, ‘Vale called me꧃,🌼 it's important, what happened?’

“So I called Vale and he said, ‘Andrea, I think it's really good if you come t🅘o replace Diggia and ri❀de one more time the MotoGP bike’.

“Sincerely, I think he ๊thought maybe I would hesitate, but I immediately said: ‘OK, perfect!’”

Sepang was the scene of the failed anti𒀰-doping test, which the Itඣalian believes came from a contaminated steak, in 2019.

But he was all sm🍌iles on his return to t♓he circuit.

“Full of emotion,” The𝄹 Maniac said of his feelings. “Sincerely, I didn't expect all this love from the paddock. This is impressive. So happy, happy to be here. “

Iannone took Ducati’s firs♉t win of the Gigi Dall’Igna era in Austria 2016, then  moved to Suzuki for 2017 and 2018, by which time his poﷺdium tally had reached 11.

A switch to Aprilia then saw Iannone put the RS-GP into the race lead for the꧙ first time a week before the fateful Sepang event.

But what are his targets t꧑his weekend on the GP23?

“First of all, I think it♚'s important I have fun,” he said. “Sincerely, I don't know what to expect because it's a long time that I don't ride a M꧃otoGP bike. I see the bikes change a lot.

“In case I'm lucky and the feeling is good from the beginning, I think it will be possible to have fun this weekend. But sincerely I don't have a target because I'm here to ride the bike, because it's the most powerful꧑ bike in the world and, for sure, it's really fun for me to ride.”

It was a much more relaxed Iannone who spoke🧸 to the media on Thursday c𝐆ompared with the rider of 2019.

“I'm older!” he grinned.

And what did he learn from the bad times?

“In life, never surrender. And in a moment, everything can change when you don’🐻t expect it.

“You think your life is like this, you try to 🐬organise everything and suddenly… destroy everything.”

At 35, Iannone, who won a race during his deꦆbut in World Superbike season, knows his full time MotoGP career is surely over.

“Never say never, but I think no,” he said of usinᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚg this weekend to launch a grand prix comeback.

Told that𓂃 former rival Cal Crutchlow wanted to know 'if you've eaten in your favourite steak restaurant', Iannone retorted: "No, I’m waiting for Cal to cook the steak for 𓆏me!"