Michele Pirro secures seventh Italian Superbike title

Michele Pirro, the official test rider for Ducati Corse’s MotoGP and WorldSBK projects, has won a seventh CIV Italian Superbike title.

Pirro, riding for the Barni Ducati team that fields Danilo Petrucci in WorldSBK and Yari Montella in WorldSSP, took the title last weekend at Mugello.

Pirro’s seventh title in the CIV Superbike class (the other six coming in 2015, 2016–19, and 2021–22) was also his 10th in the CIV series as a whole, following Superstock 1000 titles in 2007 and 2008, and a Supersport title in 2009.

Such a tally puts Pirro third on the all-time list for CIV titles, behind Tarquinio Provini on 11 titles, and Giacomo Agostini on 16, the latter winning 10 500cc titles in succession from 1968–1977.

It’s also a title which comes after the controversial ending to the 2023 CIV Superbike season at Imola last year, when Pirro’s title rival Lorenzo Zanetti made contact with Pirro in the Variante Bassa which knocked the now seven-time Superbike Champion down, handing the title to Zanetti.

Zanetti, incidentally, decided to not defend his CIV title this year, and has instead been racing in the IDM German Superbike Championship. Although Zanetti kicked off his IDM season with a win in the first race of the season at the Sachsenring, his only podium since came in Race 2 at the most recent round at the Nurburgring. In the meantime, the winning has mainly been done by Ilya Mikhalchik, who has won his fourth IDM Superbike title this year.

Zanetti’s absence has coincided with an exceptional season for Pirro. After five rounds, the #51 has won seven of 10 races; Alessandro Delbianco took victory when Pirro didn’t finish in Race 1 at the first Mugello round and when Pirro was fourth in Race 2 at the second Misano round; before Luca Bernardi won Race 2 at Mugello last weekend as Pirro clinched the title.

The final round of the 2024 CIV Superbike season will take place at Imola on 27–29 September.

Image credit: Ducati Corse/X.