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Danilo Petrucci ran a fairly concrete race in Assen, finishing in the points after recovering several positions. Qualifying was unfortunately conditioned by a yellow flag and a 'green' he touched on his good lap that would have launched him into Q2. The KTM rider is preparing to face the summer break with a big question mark about his future, but he certainly hasn't lost a shred of his sense of humour.
"I trust in KTM, I trust them and I know that if there is no place in MotoGP, maybe they'll find me a place to race off-road, rally or enduro. Maybe the Dakar. I'll race somewhere."
Joking apart, do you think you have deserved confirmation for 2022? Today you did better than Lecuona…
"Iker marked himself today. I would have liked to do more and not going well in qualifying gives me something to complain about. Yesterday they took away a good lap from me, but I'm not incisive enough and this is an aspect we have to improve if we want to do some good races. For the rest, I know I'm doing my best and I'm going on vacation in peace, I know I couldn't do more. "
But when you talk about the future in off-roading are you joking?
"I've always said that racing the Dakar has always been my dream. The fact is that I'm old enough for MotoGP, but not old enough for the Dakar. My instinct will always be to ride a motorcycle and I'm giving my all to stay in MotoGP, but I don't know if it will be enough. We need to take a step forward and if I had the chance to do it, I would be happy to continue here. I often think about switching to off-road because I started there. When I was 15 I used to race in motocross, so it's natural. Certainly the moments in which I have the most fun in life are all while riding a motorcycle, whether it's a MotoGP or an enduro is the same. "
Do you have a deadline from KTM?
"There is no deadline, a day by which they should decide. We haven't talked yet, but they are getting to know me and they know what I am doing. I have a clear conscience and I will definitely want to talk to them, because I am the first to recognize that I would have liked to be more competitive. But to do that I need their help, a bike that is more suited to me and my size, even in terms of aerodynamics. Today it was difficult to fight on equal terms with the others. "
What is the balance of this first part of the season?
"I'm the first to want more and more, so I can't be satisfied with what I've done in this first part of the season. This was one of the typical races I have this season. When you start behind, you can't recover in the race also because the straights are a real problem when I am in a group. I was fast in the fast corners of the track, but there it is impossible to overtake and I was behind Bastianini and Binder for a long time. After passing them I finished the tires, so it became very difficult. I am happy with the way I managed the race, but this happens because I have a lot of experience. I'm absolutely not happy with qualifying, my race is conditioned by that. "
Could it have gone any differently at Assen?
"I was making a good comeback, but without starting further up the grid it's hard. I spent a lot of time at the beginning to recover and then the problem is that I was very fast in the fast area of the track, which however is single trajectory so it makes it difficult to overtake. A shame because it would be enough to improve in qualifying and yesterday I had the opportunity. It was enough to go half a centimetre into the green to mortify everything, but at least I am in the points and I have not finished like this for two races. The gap is not true, I had a good pace and halfway through the race I was lapping like the leaders. But when you lose a second per lap in the first laps, it becomes impossible to recover.”
