Danilo Petrucci crashes but rebounds with P3 finish: ‘I think we’re in good shape’

Danilo Petrucci had an eventful day as he topped the times for much of the afternoon, ran into technical issues and crashed his Panigale V4 R.

Robert Jones

15 Mar 2024

Danilo Petrucci, Tissot Superpole, Australian WorldSBK, 24 February

Danilo Petrucci was the top Ducati until the final hour began as Nicolo Bulega took top spot away from his fellow Italian on the final day of WorldSBK testing in Catalunya.

The Barni Ducati rider began the day with technical issues before stopping out on circuit which resulted in yellow flags.

Once Petrucci finally got up to speed, the Italian went third fastest behind Nicolo Bulega and Jonathan Rea.

More drama then followed for the ex-MotoGP rider as Petrucci went top moments before crashing at turn ten.

Discussing his day, Petrucci said: “The first part was not busy, because I pushed the bike out of the gravel a couple of times.

“We had a problem with this morning, a bit of rain and we waited a bit, and then we had this issue with the number one bike.

“We had to start the day quite late but then we’ve been able to recover so well. I was worried about my lap time with the SCX and the SCQ. I could’ve been better but, on the second attempt, I crashed at Turn 10.

“On the second try, I put on another tyre because I wanted to do a Superpole Race simulation with the qualifying tyre, and I was improving my lap time, but I crashed at Turn 10.”

Ducati’s record in Catalunya is a very good one although Alvaro Bautista has largely contributed to that.

But with Petrucci and Bulega finishing the test in very strong form, potential for the upcoming round in Barcelona appears to be high.

Petrucci believes that to be the case despite missing out on a race simulation: “Because we didn’t have so much time, we wanted to try a race simulation, but we were unable.

“I think we’re in good shape. The tyre wear here is the main thing so you can be fast, but you need to be faster at the end of the race as your pace can drop one or two seconds. I’m satisfied.

“I’m happy because I’m trying to understand the tyre. It’s really good to go with a lot of speed inside the corner and Bulega is really good at it.

“I need to try to smoother on the throttle and carry more speed in the corner. I did the lap time with the new front tyre, and I like it.

“I was a little bit overriding the bike and I was really trusting the front tyre too much, because it was so good!”