Vittoriano Guareschi began his career in the Italian Sport Production Championship at the end of the 1980s, to progress, after six years, on to the Italian Supermono Championship. Guareschi was the winner of the Supermono title in 1995 and the following year he was signed up by Yamaha-Belgarda to race in the Supersport World Championship.

In 1996 he concluded his first World Supersport season in fifth place, before finishing in second place in the category in the two years that followed. He was rewarded for these results with a seat in Team Yamaha for the 1999 World Superbike Championship. After having achieved two podium finishes, in 1999 and 2000, in 2001 he decided to return to the Supersport Championship with the Dienza team on board a Ducati 748 with which he raced until the end of that year, before his role as official Ducati test rider for the MotoGP project took over as his full-time job.

Of a sunny and positive disposition, “Vitto” Guareschi is one of the best loved personalities in the GP world and was the very first person to ride the Ducati Desmosedici, even before Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss had sat on it. He recalls the very first tests, “It was May 2002 and we arrived, in great secrecy, at Landoux, Michelin’s test track. I didn’t know what to expect, as up until then I had only ridden bikes derived from production machines while this was a real prototype which I had caught only glimpses of in the workshop. All I know is that it was all red. I thought to myself, “Wow, this bike really works!” In the end we were very satisfied to have completed 150 kilometres in two days. If I did 150km in two days now I think they would sack me!”

From that moment on Guareschi has been a fundamental part of the development of the Desmosedici and in its progression from “rookie” in the category to MotoGP World Champion in 2007 with Casey Stoner.

In 2009 his status as Ducati MotoGP official test rider was confirmed once more.