Michele Pirro Claims Seventh Italian Superbike Crown with Dominant Season for Ducati

Michele Pirro clinches his seventh title in the Italian Superbike Championship

Michele Pirro, who serves as a test rider for Ducati in MotoGP, has added another CIV Italian Superbike championship to his achievements.

Michele Pirro, who serves as the official test rider for Ducati Corse’s MotoGP and WorldSBK teams, has secured his seventh CIV Italian Superbike championship.

Michele Pirro, who competes for the Barni Ducati team that includes riders Danilo Petrucci in the World Superbike Championship (WorldSBK) and Yari Montella in the World Supersport Championship (WorldSSP), clinched the championship last weekend at Mugello.

Pirro secured his seventh championship in the CIV Superbike category (having previously won in 2015, from 2016 to 2019, and again in 2021 and 2022). This latest win marks his tenth overall title in the CIV series, adding to his earlier victories in the Superstock 1000 class in 2007 and 2008, and a Supersport championship in 2009.

This count places Pirro in third place on the historical list of CIV championships, trailing Tarquinio Provini with 11 titles and Giacomo Agostini with 16, the latter securing 10 consecutive 500cc titles from 1968 to 1977.

The title follows the contentious conclusion of the 2023 CIV Superbike season at Imola. In the final moments, Lorenzo Zanetti, Pirro’s main competitor, collided with Pirro at the Variante Bassa, causing the seven-time Superbike Champion to crash and thereby securing the title for Zanetti.

Zanetti chose not to compete for his CIV championship title this year, opting instead to participate in the IDM German Superbike Championship. He began the IDM season with a victory in the opening race at the Sachsenring. However, since then, Zanetti has only managed to secure one more podium finish, which occurred in the second race of the latest round at the Nurburgring. During this period, Ilya Mikhalchik has been the dominant force, clinching his fourth IDM Superbike championship this year.

Without Zanetti, Pirro has had an outstanding season. In the five rounds so far, rider #51 has secured victories in seven out of ten races. Alessandro Delbianco won when Pirro failed to finish Race 1 during the first round at Mugello and again when Pirro placed fourth in Race 2 of the second Misano round. Luca Bernardi claimed victory in Race 2 at Mugello last weekend, where Pirro secured the championship title.

The concluding round of the 2024 CIV Superbike season is scheduled to be held at Imola from September 27th to 29th.

Photo courtesy of Ducati Corse/X.

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