Danilo Petrucci targets the podium at French WorldSBK: “We can fight for the lead”

After enjoying one of his best weekends in WorldSBK to date at Portimao, Danilo Petrucci is keen to continue his podium form in France this weekend.

In 2024, Petrucci has already matched his podium tally for 2023 with four. A win remains elusive, but the Italian is encouraged by his performance so far this year.

“It’ll be really cool to see if we can keep this good performance as we did at Portimao,” Petrucci told WorldSBK.com on Thursday ahead of this weekend's WorldSBK French Round at Magny-Cours. “It was a difficult race for us last year, but maybe the best one this year.”

In comparison to Portimao, Magny-Cours is a circuit with which Petrucci is more immediately comfortable.

“Regarding Magny-Cours, last year was okay so I’m expecting to be competitive this weekend. The target is to fight for the podium, as always, which isn’t always easy.

“There are at least 10 riders who can fight for the podium and only three places. As we showed at Portimao, we can fight for the lead. I think we’re in a good shape and positive trend.

“What I need is to be calm and focused on the races, and in this team, I can find peace and calm when we work.”

Petrucci also had a word for Alvaro Bautista, the 39-year-old having re-signed with the factory Ducati team for 2025.

“I always said that I have huge respect for Alvaro [Bautista] because I’d really like to have his strength at almost 40 years old,” Petrucci said. “He’s training like he’s 20.”