It’s hard to forget Michele Pirro’s first ever and emotional victory during the final 2011 Moto2 race at Valencia that made Fausto Gresini break down in tears and Pirro dedicate the win to the late Marco Simoncelli, now the Italian rider who hails from Puglia, will continue his collaboration with Gresini, but will be switching to MotoGP and ride Gresini’s CRT bike, a FTR Honda, while team mate Alvaro Bautista will be on the Honda RC213V prototype.
“I’m satisfied to have made this choice and proud to participate with Team San Carlo Honda Gresini in this interesting adventure,” said Pirro.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to make because in the beginning I would have preferred to stay in Moto2 and improve on this year’s results, but Fausto Gresini’s growing confidence in me in the final part of season left me in no doubts on the choice I should make.
I’m honoured to continue to be part of this fantastic group and to work with them to help develop this ambitious future for MotoGP.
I hope to repay their confidence in me with results and a growing technical development in this stimulating enterprise.
”“We thought it was right with such a new project like CRT, to give Michele Pirro the opportunity to further demonstrate his talent.
In the final part of the 2011 Moto2 championship he showed his technical and sportmanship qualities and we think he can continue to improve and we also believe that in this new category he can become one of the main players.
His beautiful and memorable victory at Valencia made everyone emotional, and made us more aware of wanting him to take part in this fascinating new adventure.
We’re an Italian team and having an Italian rider is important for us and the choice to carry out this project with Michele is also the result of these strong feelings,” said Fausto Gresini.