• Pirro makes it a round number with “Barni” by adding a success to his impressive haul: 66 victories, 73 podiums and 25 pole positions.
• Despite a fever, Michele dominates the first of the season and finishes solo, seven seconds ahead of his closest pursuer.
Accossato racing has always been a partner of the Barni team in all the categories in which it competes.
Michele Pirro opens his tenth season with the Barni SparkRacing Team with a victory, on the day of his 100th race in Superbike, all disputed with Marco Barnabò’s team. Despite a fever, the rider from San Giovanni Rotondo hadominated in his own way, favored also by the falls in the early laps of Bernardi and Delbianco, the two rivals who had beaten him in qualifying. In fact, Pirro had started third (1’39;35.377), and in the first few laps the trio Bernardi-Pirro-Delbianco themselves had immediately made a gap on the others.
Bernardi fell while leading, Delbianco while trying to push past the
Ducati Panigale V4 R #51. Left alone, Pirro brought the race home by managing the pace.
Unlucky was his boxmate Alberto Butti who crashed out in qualifying, gaining
tenth time anyway. In the race, right from the first laps, a technical problem with his Ducati Panigale V4 R held him back until the erbese was forced to retire.
Also uphill was Edoardo Aquilano’s Supersport debut: also slipping in qualifying
before putting on the new tire and attempting a fast lap, Edo was forced to start from the
20th box. An unhappy start and a contact at the first corner dropped him to 26th position. From there on, the Brianzolo had to rebuild the race: with several overtakes he regained positions, but was unable to grab the points zone crossing the finish line seventeenth.
Michele Pirro - P1
“I’m coming from one of the most difficult weeks since I’ve been a racer; I’ve never had have such a strong flu; being a father also means this because viruses stick to the children and my daughter passed me the sickness (smiles ed.). On Wednesday I was struggling to getout of bed and today I won the race; I’m really proud of what we did with the team. Even though Bernardi and Delbianco crashed, they proved to be very fast and I know it’s going to be a challenging confrontation this year, but I’m still here and we’re going to have fun.”
