Michele Pirro finally gave his FTR/Honda bike at 20 lap shakedown test at ‘Enzo e Dino Ferrari’ circuit at Imola yesterday during the CIV test.
This is the first time that the Gresini San Carlo rider has been able to ride his CTR bike as he previously tested only twice at Vallelunga, but used a normal CBR1000RR.
The Italian team and the MotoGP rookie will have their work cut out for them; they’ll have another two days of testing at Imola before heading to Jerez for final official pre-season test and will have to come to grips not only with the 225hp Honda engine tuned by Ten Kate, the Pi Cosworth electronics but also the Bridgestone tires, as Pirro used only Pirelli tires during yesterday’s shakedown test.
“Finally, I got to ride my CRT, the bike that I’ll face the MotoGP championship on,” said Pirro.
“I has really been a first shakedown, where we tried to verify that everything works as well as possible.
We also defined what we will work on the next two days at Imola, and also at the first Official Test for us in Jerez, which will be especially important.
We are aware that a lot of work remains, but we are confident that there is a lot of potential and that if we take the right decisions, we can do well.
A few laps are not enough to make big announcements, but there is a ton of enthusiasm and this environment will help us continue with this challenge.
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