Too late to help Valentino Rossi at Ducati, now my job is to help Marc Marquez

A crucial cog in Ducati’s workings was too late to help Valentino Rossi, but has a key role in helping Marc Marquez.

Michele Pirro is the manufacturer’s stalwart test rider who has been crucial to the Desmosedici project.

He arrived in 2013, coinciding with Rossi’s exit. The first Ducati he tested was the 2012 bike which was Rossi’s nemesis. Now Pirro is testing the Ducati in preparation for Marquez’s arrival in 2025.

This weekend at the season-finale Grand Prix of Barcelona, Pirro comes full circle. He is racing for Rossi’s VR46 team, as a replacement for the injured Fabio di Giannantonio.

“There is pressure because I am riding for Valentino Rossi’s team, the best rider ever,” Pirro said.

“I started my career with Valentino.

“The first time I tested the Ducati, [it was what Valentino had used].

“My job is to help Ducati. This is the last possibility to use the 2023 bike, and to check if there are good points or not.

“I think there are not! I will test it. Next week with the new bike, I will try the difference.”

Pirro will ride VR46’s GP23 this weekend. It is the first time in two-and-a-half years that he has tackled a year-old version of the Ducati.

On Tuesday at the postseason test, he will transfer knowledge of the year-old bike into the latest version as preparations ramp up to unleash the GP25.

Marquez hopes the GP25 will power him to a ninth career title which will equal his rival Rossi’s record.

Pirro said: “There is opportunity to come back to the old bike because we don’t have the tyres.

“Yes, it is a race, but there is an opportunity to test the difference.

“We don’t have tyres to test and we have managed the situation.

“In the races, it has been extraordinary for Ducati so I am really happy.”

Pirro races Superbikes when he is not testing for Ducati but insists the MotoGP machine is totally in contrast.

“It’s completely another story! The braking level, the aerodynamics level, are another story,” he said.

“This braking and aero system is more difficult to push at the limit.

“The weekend overall - especially World Superbikes - is not simple. But, the big difference is the intensity with MotoGP especially in the braking and acceleration area.

“You lose body power. Because I have another riding style to the young riders. It is difficult for an old man!”

Pirro, now 38, is watching a new generation of Ducati riders tackle the bike that he first started testing when the manufacturer was hugely struggling, after Rossi’s exit.

He said: “The problem is age!

“The aero is totally different to 10 years ago, or five years ago.

“Improving the acceleration, the braking, the holeshot… it’s another story compared to the past.

“Now, it’s good to see the young riders and their riding style, how their body is completely off the bike.

“I try to do this, but it’s not simple. When I go out, maybe my shoulder goes out!

“This is normal life for athletes.”