Turning issue a problem of the Ducati, says Petrucci

Danilo Petrucci fared better than he anticipated at Jerez on Friday as he ended the first free practice sessions as the second fastest Ducati rider.

Petrucci was fifth overall behind factory rider Jorge Lorenzo, some nine tenths behind Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda in first.

The Pramac Ducati rider is happy with the rear of his Desmosedici GP17 but explained he is having lots of problems turning the bike in the tight corners at the Spanish circuit.

"It was better than expected. The bike is working good and the tyres, especially the rear is good. Anyway we have a lot of work to do because I started to ride with the same bike I used in Austin to have the same feeling," he said.

"I am quite competitive but there is quite a lot of work to do. We have some solutions for tomorrow but we are competitive anyway, so I'm happy for this because the bike has some issues to solve. I don't feel the front on long corners and I don't feel the confidence. Even in the tight corners like one and two I have to go in with a lot of brake, but when I release the brake, the bike still doesn't turn.

"There are too many problems for us but the positive things are that we expected to struggle a lot with the wheelie or the traction, but the rear end of the bike is good and we have traction and not so much wheelie. Fifty per-cent of the bike is OK," added Petrucci

"I think it is the behaviour of the Ducati bike and in this track we struggle a lot because there are a lot of tight corners. We are good in braking but when we have to turn a lot the bike, other riders with other bikes can pick up the bike and open the throttle, but we have to stay a little bit more with the lean angle and we cannot open all the throttle. At the moment it is difficult."

Petrucci feels Friday's times did not paint a clear picture with mixed conditions impacting on the appearance of the leaderboard.

"I think the results of today are not completely true because the track was not completely dry and it was damp and so risky. There were some wet patches we couldn't see and some riders had crashes," he said.

"I think not all the riders gave 100 per-cent especially the top riders: I think they wait for tomorrow morning for going into Q2. We have to stay calm and work because tomorrow is another day."