The 30-year-old Italian, who is working as Jorge Lorenzo's rider coach this season, made nine race appearances in 2016 - two as a wildcard and seven as a replacement for various injured Ducati riders, including Danilo Petrucci, Loris Baz and Andrea Iannone.

His best finish came at Misano, where he finished seventh after qualifying fifth, and he finished 19th in the points standings.

This weekend he will make his first outing of 2017 at Mugello on a third factory-entered Desmosedici GP17, alongside regular race riders Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso.

"Finally I return to the track for a GP for the first time since Aragon last year," said Pirro. "I'm very happy because it's always a fascinating experience to race at Mugello in front of our fans.

"As always I'll try and do my best together with the guys in the test team to put our bike as far forward as possible. We have a good base and I am ready to try and get a good result in the race."

Pirro's main racing commitment for 2017 is in the Italian Superbike series, which he leads with a clean sweep of wins in the first four races of the year.