Dunlop Civ 2025: who will win the Superbike title between Delbianco and Pirro?

The 2025 Dunlop Civ weekend at Vallelunga saw Alessandro Delbianco score a sensational double that allowed him to jump into the lead in the Superbike class standings. Regardless of the result, the rampant Yamaha rider from Romagna showed clear supremacy over the rest of the competition, winning both races by a wide margin and beating on both occasions the only rider who, at the halfway point of the championship, can still put a spoke in his wheels in the title race: the reigning champion Michele Pirro with his trusty Ducati . After the triumphant weekend of the Rome Capital round , Delbianco rose to 145 points in the standings against Pirro's 113, a 32-point margin that, while reassuring, does not mean that the title fight is over. On the contrary.

To find out the title chances that can be attributed to Delbianco and Pirro at this point in the season, we must first analyze what has happened so far. In the Vallelunga event last weekend, Delbianco showed a resounding superiority corroborated by the numbers: the victory in Race-1 was in fact sealed by a good 7” advantage over his rival, Race-2, on the distance reduced from 16 to 10 laps after an initial interruption for the red flag, still saw Delbianco speed under the checkered flag with 3.8” to spare. And all this while always reporting the fastest lap and after having conquered the pole with an 8 tenths advantage over Pirro and over 1” on all the rest of the competition.

The Vallelunga weekend was largely a repeat of what was seen in the opening round at Misano , another weekend dominated from free practice onwards and culminating with pole position and victory in both races, when he edged out second-placed Luca Vitali by more than 8” in Race 1 and nearly 6” on Pirro in Race 2, as well as 20” on the rest of the group. Things went differently in the second round at Mugello , however, where Delbianco took pole position and victory in Race 1 by a much narrower margin: just 5 thousandths after a furious sprint with Pirro. And the same pattern was repeated in Race 2, but with a different final outcome: on that occasion it was Pirro who got the better of the Yamaha rider by 133 thousandths.

After three rounds out of six on the calendar, in which he has taken 5 wins out of 6 races and all the poles , Delbianco has definitely deserved the 32-point cushion that allows him to look with cautious optimism to the second part of the season. With 50 points up for grabs every weekend, mathematical certainty is obviously still a mirage, but Delbianco has the experience necessary to know that lowering his guard at this time would be the worst of mistakes. And it is equally clear that Pirro, for his part, cannot make any more mistakes. The crash that put him out of the game in Race-1 at Misano , which he then closed in 15th place, weighs like a millstone in the standings and Delbianco's consistent performance makes it difficult to predict a significant decline. Also because the other riders on the grid do not seem able to join in their fight, taking points away from their opponent. The ace from Puglia is therefore called upon to complete a further step in his performance, hoping however for some serious missteps from the current leader.

The duel between Delbianco and Pirro must also be evaluated in light of the path that has brought them to this day. Alessandro Delbianco , born in 97, rose to prominence at the end of the 2000s by winning several European Minimoto titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008. After a brief participation in the reality show “Motorhome – Piloti di famiglia”, broadcast in 2014 by MTV, in 2019 he made his full debut in the Superbike World Championship with the Honda Cbr1000rr of the Althea team, finishing 18th in the championship. Since 2020 he has returned to being a regular presence in the Civ Superbike and has been vice-champion three times, including last year. Michele Pirro , now forty years old, made his debut in the MotoGP in 2003, in the now defunct 125 class, winning a single victory in Moto2, in Valencia in 2011, before becoming an official Ducati Corse tester for MotoGP as well. His career in the CIV is studded with seven Superbike titles from 2015 to 2024, first with the twin-cylinder Panigale and then with the V4, a bike that he himself helped shape with thousands of kilometers of testing. Confirming the fact that Pirro is not only a developer, but above all an excellent rider who loves direct comparison on the track.

As evidenced by the non-difference in age, Delbianco and Pirro come to challenge each other for the 2025 CIV Superbike title at very different points in their respective careers, a comparison that can be traced back to the old dichotomy between youthful exuberance and the wisdom derived from experience. Delbianco is coming off a first part of the season with the wind in his sails, in which he achieved great results with a Yamaha R1 calibrated properly by the Dmr team on his characteristics. Pirro, with the Panigale V4 prepared by Barni 51 Racing Lab , has on his side the knowledge gained over years of battles and a great understanding with the bike, which could allow him to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat to raise the competitiveness of his technical package and give his younger opponent a hard time.

Should he find his feeling with the bike again, Pirro could actually aspire to a sensational comeback. Last year, the Ducati rider won 7 out of 12 races, with Delbianco managing to prevail on 3 occasions, but the Yamaha star had not yet shown the pace and consistency that are characterizing this 2025. With the next rounds scheduled for Misano Adriatico (26-27 July, with a night race), Imola (6-7 September) and Mugello (4-5 October), the year is still entering its decisive phase. At the moment, it is impossible not to give Delbianco the favorite of the forecast: 32 points is a significant margin, but just one mistake can be enough to reduce it substantially. On the other hand, Pirro is not the type to never give up: he rides a bike that he knows like the back of his hand, has an enviable list of victories and has also shown this season that he has the clarity and heart of a champion. Furthermore, the history of motorcycling is full of epic comebacks in which, in several cases, it was the “old fox” who had the last laugh.