There are tracks that evoke special memories in the minds of riders. Victories, podiums, or even decidedly less happy moments, like those that the Estoril track brings back to Danilo Petrucci 's memory and that date back to 2012. The year of the Terni rider's debut in MotoGP.
A complex season for Danilo, who precisely at the Round in Portugal was lapped for the first time. A memorable moment, which Petrux remembers today with a smile and a lot of joking around.
"It's always nice to tell, because that was a magical year for the emotions and tragic for the results," Danilo laughingly remarked, "I was debuting in MotoGP, at 21 I was the youngest on the grid and I had a so-so bike. Estoril was the third race, I had already managed to get in the points and I remember lapping about 4 seconds a lap slower than Stoner, who had never won here and was particularly keen to succeed that year. On the grid Giovanni Sandi said to me, 'I think those in front are going to catch us today.' I didn't realize that with such a short track and so many laps it could happen and it did. I remember the moment when he passed me and I read 'Stoner' on his leathers. I was lapped by the leaders until the seventh, which was Valentino. A big disappointment, but it was just the first of many times I was lapped that year. I remember it well."
It took only a few races, in fact, before a similar episode was repeated.
"In Brno, Lorenzo and Pedrosa had a great battle until the last lap, with Dani resisting Jorge on the outside, and if you go and see those images again, there's me too, who saw all that last lap from behind, because they had just lapped me," Petrucci went on to say, "The lowest point of that year, however, was at Misano."
The Terni rider's first race with the Suter MMX1.
"We had run out of spare parts for the Aprilia-powered Ioda and had taken this Suter-BMW discarded by Edwards to race at Misano," he explained, "I set off for the race, dry, without having a dry set-up because I had never ridden that bike and on Friday and Saturday it had continued to rain intermittently. On the second lap the electronic gearbox broke, and even there on the first lap a mess happened and I was 15th. I didn't want to retire, but I was going really slow and I was lapped in the home race as well. I remember picking up the moped almost in tears and getting going. There were all the fans waiting for the riders for autographs and at one point a little boy handed me a notepad, looked at me and said, 'You're number 9, you've been lapped. So no' and he took the notepad away from me. I will never forget the pain of that moment, but the first time I was lapped that year was right here."
The current Barni team rider has come a long way since then, happy with how his career has developed over the past 12 years.
"I would have gladly traded my career to be as good as Stoner was then and win two titles in MotoGP, however, I must say that I am not complaining at all. This year's crash was a great opportunity for me to mature and improve, and the results showed. I couldn't ask for anything more from my career, considering that 12 years ago I was a 'dead man walking'. Aleix Espargaró and I were among the few who stayed after CRT," Petrucci noted, "Honestly, I never expected to be able to win in MotoGP, Superbike and the Dakar. It went beyond expectations."
Goals that have not satisfied Danilo, however, because he is still hungry for results.
"I thought I would be a little satisfied after winning in Cremona, but instead next year I would like to fight to be in the top three and always be in the top five. My mouth was a little watery after Cremona, because I told myself that maybe I could fight with Alvaro for third place in the World Championship. Instead, at Aragon he went really strong, while I couldn't go strong on Sunday and I lost a lot of points," he acknowledged, "But that was already beyond expectations this year. Let alone after the accident."