Danilo Petrucci “thought I would be penalised” in French WorldSBK Race 2

Danilo Petrucci feared penalisation was coming his way after contact in the WorldSBK Superpole Race at Magny-Cours.

Petrucci ultimately finished the weekend with three podium finishes and as the highest scorer from the round overall.

“I was already really confident about this race, as this morning [in the Superpole Race] I was able to catch all the riders after starting from ninth and I finished third,” Petrucci told WorldSBK.com after Race 2.

“I expected to fight with Alex [Lowes] and Nicolo [Bulega] this afternoon but I don’t know what happened to Alex on the first lap.

“ I was not able to follow Nicolo on the first two or three laps, then the gap remained the same.

“I tried to push all the way through, when I was catching maybe two or three tenths per lap to Nicolo, then the gap was fading.”

“At the end I was suffering a bit with my right arm then there was Garrett [Gerloff] trying to catch me. It was not a difficult race, but it was difficult to manage all the race because I was alone.

“In the end it is three podiums [in one weekend], which has never happened in my career. I think looking at the points I was the one who scored most this weekend.

“I’m really passionate about motocross and if this was motocross I would have won the Grand Prix!”

(Most motocross series, such as MXGP, use a multi-race format like WorldSBK’s, with points scored in each race and the highest scorer at the end of the final race declared the overall winner of the round.)

Petrucci’s Superpole Race podium came after a battle with Andrea Locatelli in the beginning. Twice Petrucci tried to pass his compatriot at the turn five hairpin; the first time Locatelli resisted on the outside, but the second time Petrucci’s Ducati was on the inside when the Yamaha rider tried to turn in.

The contact between the two caused Locatelli to crash, and Petrucci feared he would receive a penalty.

“The first thing I did after the celebration before heading to my garage was I went to [Andrea Locatelli’s] garage and he was a little bit upset,” Petrucci said.

“In that race I was on the inside, he tried to hold on and he just closed the corner when I was there and I was on the inside.

“I’m so sorry because Loka really is a great guy and I’m so sorry that he crashed. I was thinking about the crash all the way after that and I thought I would be penalised but in the end fortunately the race direction made a good choice.”