After winning a Moto2 race in 2011, Pirro had st🦄ayed with the Gresini team for a move to MotoGP in 2012, riding an FTR chassis in the short-lived CRT class.

The Italian saved his best for last with a fifth plac🅘e at the damp Valencia finale, but the usual gulf in performance compared to the full factory bikes sa🎃w Pirro accept the role of test and wild-card rider for Ducati.

Pirro’s arrival coincided with the ꦡexit of nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi, who was retreating back to Yamaha after two winless years at Ducati.

“When I tested it, I understood why Valentino had failed to be competitive with the Ducati,” Pirro told . “It wa💟s a bike you entered corners with and didn’t know if you’d reach the exit.

“The front tyre didn’t give you confidence and normal riders - in the 🍎sen🐷se of those who ride with the front like Rossi - struggled, while Stoner, coming from dirt track, rode with the rear.

“Valentino wasn’t able to make a difference because you had to go beyond your instincts, 🍌but when you [pushed], you fell, So you took half a step forward and two backwards.

“When a rider lacks confidence, it’s over.”

Ducati🌊’s MotoGP 🐠project then reached its nadir, in terms of results, with a podium-less 2013 campaign.

But the man who w꧑ould eventually lead Ducati🀅 back to the top of MotoGP, Gigi Dall’Igna, arrived from Aprilia at the end of that year.

Due to the lead time in product꧑ion, the GP15 was the first full Dall’Igna machine, taking nine podiums. Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso then claimed Ducati’s first MotoGP wins since Stoner the following year and the factory has been a constant title contender ever since.

Prior to 2015, Ducati had struggled with a chronic understeer problem that only the genius of Stoner could overcome. However, “I remem🤡ber the debut of Gigi’s first bike in 2015, I rode it at Latina, an oval, I was having so much fun I didn’t want to stop,” Pirro revealed.

Pirro’s plan had been to use the Duca💎ti test riding role as a springboard to a full-time MotoGP race seat, but Dall’Igna had otꦉher ideas.

“Up until five years ago I hated Gigi!” he joked. “I wanted to rac🦩e and he said I would when the bike was competitive.

“When Stoner arrived as a test rider, I thought I was free, but he did꧒n’t stay long! Then Gigi told me ‘I can find ꦓa racer, but not a test rider who does what you do’.

“Gigi had a goal and surroundedಞ himself with the best peℱople to achieve it.

“When you’re young ⛎it’s hard to accept [not racing] and I will always have doubts about what my level wou൩ld have been had I raced a few complete seasons in MotoGP.

“However, I’ve been part of 🤡an important team and have been here even longer than Gigꦰi!”

Explaining t🥃he main impact his test🌱 riding work has had over the past decade, Pirro said:

“It’s not ♛easy to measure the rider’s feelings, you don’t see them in the data. It was a team effort to improve. Valenti🅠no had arrived in the worst moment, but Pecco, another Italian rider, succeeded in that feat.”

Pirro has mad൩e 45 MotoGP starts as a wild-card and replacement rider for Ducati, with a best finish of fourth at Valencia 2018.