Petrucci was the victim of a small ‘theft’ today in his garage and his Desmosedici GP17 was taken, ending up in Lorenzo’s hands. So, Danilo was left with the new bike and that is not necessarily a bad thing, because he “likes it a lot”.
Jorge, on the other hand, chose another road and the Pramac rider is rather diplomatic.
“I don’t know what Lorenzo is working on. I think he may struggle a bit more when he arrives at a new track and he just needs to learn it. We’ll be racing here in October with different temperatures, different tyres and a year of development in the bike. Maybe he just wanted to do a test and it doesn’t make much sense to look at the standings today. I take my own road. If others get in the way in front of me, it’s a problem. If they are behind me, it’s okay” he solves everything with a joke.
Petrucci does not try to conceal his satisfaction with the 3 days in which, rather than trying for a spectacular lap, he was looking for substance.
“We are happy because we worked well and, above all, even changing very little on the bike compared to Sepang, we were consistently fast - he says - Looking for a fast time is not that important. We have the Qatar tests for that, partially because, when we come back here for the race, the tyres will be different, as will the temperatures.”
So he gives himself passing marks.
“I’d give myself a 7, maybe 7 and a half, because I was consistently with the leaders, fast with all the tyres and I never did a time attack - he continues - I still need to work on the physical aspect, but I am understanding the bike more and more and there is margin for improvement.”
Above all, he is headed to the next test with a healthy dose of optimism, but without getting a big head.
“I know that in Qatar we’ll be able to be fast. At the moment, I think I’ll have the potential to stay in the top 6 or 7 - he predicts - With the tyres used in the GP of Austria here I did particularly well. My pace was similar to Dovizioso’s.”