Gresini Promotes Moto2 Pilot Pirro to Ride CRT Machine in 2012 MotoGP Championship

Dennis Chung
by Dennis Chung

Gresini announced the re-signing of racer Michele Pirro, with a promotion from the Moto2 class to the premiere MotoGP class.

Pirro raced for Gresini in the Moto2 class in 2011, finishing ninth overall with a third place finish and a victory in the season-ending Valencia round. For 2012, Pirro will compete in the MotoGP class riding a CRT bike with an FTR chassis and a Honda CBR1000RR engine.

The 25-year-old Italian racer will join teammate Alvaro Bautista who recently signed with the team to ride a non-factory supported Honda RC213V.

Pirro says he was initially planning to remain another year in the Moto2 class. After the death of Marco Simoncelli however, Gresini wanted an Italian rider to appeal to its sponsors. Pirro’s familiarity with the team made him a logical choice to ride alongside the Spanish-born Bautista. Pirro’s victory at Valencia was an emotional one for Gresini racing, coming the round after the tragic Malaysian Grand Prix where Simoncelli died.

“I am happy to have made this choice and proud to be competing with Team San Carlo Honda Gresini in this new adventure. It wasn’t an easy decision to make because my initial priority was to build on my results from 2011 in Moto2 but the faith shown in me by Fausto Gresini at the end of the season left me in little doubt which route I should take,” says Pirro. “I am honoured to remain part of this fantastic group of people and to be joining them as part of an ambitious project that represents the future of MotoGP. Hopefully I can pay back the faith they have shown in me with some good results and technical development.”

[Source: Gresini]

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Dennis Chung
Dennis Chung

Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.

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