Ducati has announced its test rider Michel Pirro MotoGP champion will be replaced mark marquez In the upcoming Australian Grand Prix.
Pirlo will team up with the three-time world champion to ride for the factory Ducati team at the Phillip Island event on 17-19 October. francesco bagnaia,
It will be the Italian’s first start in MotoGP since last year’s Barcelona final, when he stood in for an injured player. Fabio Di Giannantonio on the VR46, and the first on a factory Ducati since the 2023 Japanese GP.
While other manufacturers regularly give their test riders the opportunity to participate in races as wildcards, Ducati is not allowed to do so as the only marque classified under ‘Category A’ under MotoGP’s concession system.
Whereas Marquez has already crashed out of both Australia and Malaysia rounds Due to an injury suffered in Indonesia this month, Pirlo’s appointment has only been confirmed for the first weekend of the double header.
“Update for the upcoming #AustralianGP. With injury forcing @marcmarquez93 to miss the next two rounds of the 2025 @MotoGP season, the #DucatiLenovoTeam confirms that @michelepirro51 will replace him at the Australian appointment,” the championship-winning Ducati team said in a brief statement on Said in, formerly known as Twitter.
Michele Pirro, Ducati Lenovo Team
Photo by: Gold & Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
Pirlo has been called up after Márquez suffered a “fracture at the base of the caracoid process and a ligament injury to his right shoulder” in the collision with the Aprilia. Marco Bezzecchi At the start of the Indonesian Grand Prix last weekend.
Polesitter Bezzecchi was trying to recover from a slow start that had dropped him into the lower echelons of the top 10, when he made an overambitious move on Márquez at Turn 7, sending them both out of the race.
Márquez immediately flew back to Spain to undergo a medical examination, where the full severity of his injuries was revealed.
Although no surgery is planned at this stage, the nine-time world champion will focus on rest and stabilization of the shoulder as part of a ‘conservative treatment plan’.
A decision on his possible return for the final two rounds of the season in Portugal and Valencia will be made depending on his recovery progress in the coming weeks.
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