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Michele Pirro will be able to add another race suit to his collection after this weekend in Barcelona. In fact, the test rider from Puglia has picked up the baton from Andrea Iannone, replacing Fabio Di Giannantonio aboard the Ducati GP23 of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team, for the last event of the year. Before returning to action on Tuesday on the same Catalan track, for the first day of winter testing 2025.
"In these 12 years, I've collected a lot of suits. I have never counted them, I keep them all at home and the only constant is that they are all Ducati. I've never had a yellow suit, this is the first time, and it's exciting because it's Valentino's team," commented the 38-year-old. "I have a little bit of pressure from racing for Valentino's team. He is the greatest in motorcycling and I started my career with him. It's going to be very nice, but I'm also here to make a contribution to Ducati and test the GP23 one last time before making the transition on Tuesday to the 24/25."
An important opportunity for the Borgo Panigale test rider to begin setting up the work ahead of testing.
"I haven't done a MotoGP race in more than a year, so it will be important to do one. I also talked about it with Dani Pedrosa in Jerez, and it's not easy not to do even one race during the year, because in testing you ride alone while in this way you can see the level of the others. Plus, it will be the last chance to ride the GP23. It will be important to understand how much of a difference there is between this bike and the GP24 and GP25, and we have the opportunity to do it on the same track," he said, explaining his work plan. "I think that's also why Dall'Igna and Ducati decided to let me do this race. It will be important, but I'm also curious to try the bike and make a comparison in Tuesday's test."
It has been since 2022, after all, that Pirro had not had a chance to ride the Desmosedici GP23.
"It is clear that there is a big difference, but we want to understand well how much it is and there is no better opportunity to do it than to make a comparison on the same circuit. I feel sorry for Di Giannantonio, because it is never good to take over from another rider. Iannone had also had a good weekend at Sepang, but Ducati's view is to keep working, and we don't have many opportunities to do that, as we don't have a lot of testing and tires available and we can't waste days and tires riding with the old bike," he underlined. "When did I get confirmation of the substitution? Last week. Dall'Igna and VR46 decided to race me based on testing and scheduling. When they were racing in Sepang, I was busy testing with the GP25 and I thought I was done for this year."
Speaking just about the weekend in Malaysia, Michele gave his assessment of Iannone's performance.
"Iannone had one season in Superbike, which is not the same thing at the bike level, but it is still a World Championship that you have to be trained for. I was the first one to get him back on a Ducati in March of last year, having him test with the V4, because he was riding the Aprilia. I saw that he hadn't lost talent, and I talked to Dall'Igna about it and told him he was fast. But everything has changed from five years ago," he noted, "Both the bikes and the riding style have changed, and the other riders do everything more naturally and more easily. That's true for me as well , and I think it also depends on age: the talent is there to do one, two or five laps, but doing a whole race is not easy. You can train all you want, but these guys have grown up developing a riding style made to take advantage of these bikes and we can adapt, but we can never do it as naturally as they do."
So is a weekend of suffering like the Abruzzo rider's looming for the man from Puglia?
"It is not that he suffered physically because he is not prepared, but because you have to do maneuvers to be fast that cost a lot of energy. It is the technique that changes not the speed, and he was able to be fast right away because he has talent. In today's MotoGP, however, it takes more than just talent. You also need a lot of technique," Michele analyzed. "He had an improving weekend, but the gap from the first one always remained the same. It will be difficult for me too, also because the others already have 20 races behind them."
A very different test than the wildcard race done this year in SBK by the 38-year-old.
"It's a completely different story, in terms of braking and aerodynamics - he explained - This is a prototype and it's harder to push it to the limit every time. The race weekend is not easy, especially in Superbike because there are three races and numerous track sessions. The big difference, however, lies in the intensity of MotoGP, especially in braking and acceleration."
How much has the introduction of concessions in MotoGP affected Michele's work?
"It's different because you have to manage testing, especially at the level of days, because we don't have many tires available. It was important to be able to manage it during the year, and we have done a tremendous job in racing, especially this season, and I'm happy with that," replied Pirro, who then concluded by talking about the most changes he has encountered in the premier class since starting his work as a test rider.
"It's a completely different story. The aerodynamics especially are very different from twelve, or even five, years ago. The lowerer and all the devices to improve in acceleration and braking are a whole different thing than what it was like in the past, and it's difficult. If I could have tried these bikes twelve years ago it would have been a different thing for me," he said, laughing. "But it's nice to see from the track the riding style of young guys today, who have their bodies off the bike. It's fun. I've tried, but it's not easy."
