[AUTO SPORT]
Five-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Emanuele Pirro made his motorbike racing debut at the 81st Goodwood Members’ Meeting.
The 62-year-old Italian contested the Hailwood Trophy for 250cc and 350cc two-stroke grand prix and Formula 750 motorcycles that raced up to 1983. He qualified the Michael Russell-entered Yamaha TZ250 20th in the 34-bike field, 9.7 seconds off pole.
The Le Mans winner of 2000-02 and 2006-07, who recently left his role managing the McLaren young driver programme, ran 20th in race one on Saturday prior to a red flag when Alan Cathcart fell. Pirro lost places after the restart, but moved forward as his pace improved.
He crossed the line 18th overall, 10th in class.
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“Every metre I’m learning something,” said Pirro, who started 37 world championship Formula 1 races between 1989 and 1991.
“It’s incredibly exciting. I’ve never ridden with people around me so I was a bit nervous at the start.
“I had massive respect for riders before doing it and now I have even more.”
The tightly contested race was won by Phil Atkinson’s Yamaha as the top three were covered by just 0.423s in a dash to the line.
Pirro is scheduled to contest the second, seven-lap, race on Sunday morning. The overall results will be decided by an aggregate of the two heats
