After winning a Moto2 race in 2011, Pirro had stayed with the Gresini team for a move to MotoGP in 2012, ridin🌞g an FTR chassis in the short-lived CRT class.

The Itali✃an saved his best for last with a fifth place at the damp Valencia finale, but the usual gulf in performance compared to the full factory bikes saw Pirro accept the role of test and wild-card rider for Ducati.

Pirro’s arrival coincided with the exit of ꦍnine-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 fai💦led to be competitive with the Ducati,” Pirro told . “It was 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 sense of those who ride with the front like Rossi - struggled, while Stoner, coming from dirt track, rode with thꦺe rear.

“Valentino wasn’t able to make a difference because you had to go beyond your instincts, but when you [pushe🐟d], 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, ღin terms of results, with a podium-lesꦺs 2013 campaign.

But the man who would eventually lead Ducati back to t✨he top of MotoGP, Gigi Dal🐠l’Igna, arrived from Aprilia at the end of that year.

Due to the lead time in production, the GP15 was the fir🍸st 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 understeerꦉ problem that only the genius of Stoner could overcome. However, “I remember the debut of Gigi’s firs🉐t bike in 2015, I rode it at Latina, an oval, I was having so much fun I didn’t want to stop,” Pirro revealed.

Pirᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚro’s plan had been 🌟to use the Ducati test riding role as a springboard to a full-time MotoGP race seat, but Dall’Igna had other ideas.

“Uꦅp until five years ago I hate꧑d Gigi!” he joked. “I wanted to race and he said I would when the bike was competitive.

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

“Gigi ha🙈d a goal and surrounde♚d himself with the best people to achieve it.

“When you’re young it’s hard to accept [not racing] and I will always have doubts about what my l🐈evel would have been had I raced a feꦡw complete seasons in MotoGP.

“However, I’veꦰ been part of an important team and have been here e♒ven longer than Gigi!”

Exp๊laining the 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 d🧸ata. It was a team effort to improve. Valentino had arrived in the worst moment, but Pecco, another Italian rider, succeeded in that 🗹feat.”

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