Ducati check rider Michele Pirro shall be drafted in at VR46 for the ultimate spherical of the 2024 MotoGP season at Barcelona, Motorsport.com has realized.
Pirro shall be driving considered one of VR46’s GP23 bikes within the Barcelona GP on 15-17 November, with Fabio di Giannantonio once more absent from racing after getting surgical procedure executed on his left shoulder final Wednesday.
Though Andrea Iannone impressed VR46 within the Malaysian GP final weekend after returning to MotoGP on the specific want of crew proprietor Valentino Rossi, the one-time grand prix winner is not going to be racing in Spain subsequent week.
The choice was taken by Ducati together with VR46 and shall be formally communicated to the general public subsequent week.
Iannone, who had been out of motion since his 2019 marketing campaign with Aprilia after receiving a four-year doping ban, completed seventeenth lower than a minute behind race winner Francesco Bagnaia‘s manufacturing facility Ducati.
One of many situations required for Iannone to compete once more within the final race was to not look misplaced at Sepang, a aim he greater than achieved along with his fast adaptation to the GP23.
Andrea Iannone, VR46 Racing Staff
Picture by: Asif Zubairi
Nevertheless, Ducati has determined to lean on the dependable Pirro in Barcelona after taking technical and improvement facets into consideration.
Not like this season the place Ducati is fielding 4 GP24 bikes between its official crew and Pramac, the Borgo Panigale marque shall be down to simply three factory-spec bikes in 2025. These shall be raced by Bagnaia, new works crew rider Marc Marquez and di Giannatonio at VR46.
The pre-season check in Barcelona, the place Pirro will once more be on obligation at VR46, is subsequently essential for Ducati to get the ultimate particulars for the 2025 bike proper as MotoGP enters a two-year engine freeze part.
Ducati’s present cushion over different producers is so huge that nobody doubts the event freeze shall be a bonus for them within the long-run.
Nevertheless, the truth that Marquez doesn’t have a lot expertise on the present GP24 – having ridden a one-year-old bike at Gresini in 2024 – has led common supervisor Gigi Dall’Igna to conclude that Pirro’s presence on the check is important for the marque.
For the time being, it isn’t sure whether or not three GP25 bikes shall be shipped to Spain as is deliberate, or if solely two shall be out there because of a manufacturing difficulty.
In any case, Ducati needs to have Pirro, who performs a significant position within the improvement of the bike, at full capability in Barcelona to assist Bagnaia and Marquez fine-tune the bike by offering extra information.
Pirro is already testing the GP25 on Wednesday and Thursday this week at Jerez. After these two days of working, the bike shall be packed up and despatched to Barcelona for the primary official 2025 check on 19 November.