As expected, Moto GP team Gresini San Carlo has announced that Michele Pirro will take on the team’s CRT ride, on an FTR chassis with a Honda CBR1000-based engine.
Pirro rode for the team in Moto 2 in 2011, winning the final race of the season and finishing ninth overall.
Pirro is not only a known quantity for the team, he’s Italian, which is critical to the continued sponsorship of San Carlo, an Italian snack food company.
That brings the number of confirmed CRT entries to seven, with five more possibles waiting in the wings. Grids of 19, possibly 24 bikes, will be a welcome change from the sparse entries in late 2011.