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It was a heart-stopping beginning to the championship for Danilo Petrucci, who gave it his all at the Phillip Island circuit despite some initial difficulties. At the start of the race, the rider from Terni suffered Bautista's lunge. Toprak and Van Der Mark made matters worse. But Petrux regained ground and, during lap 17, he attacked Redding at Turn 1, getting into fourth position and putting Bautista's Ducati in his sights. However, the few remaining laps didn't allow him to make up that one and a half second gap, so he had to settle for finishing 4th, one step away from the podium. Amid high temperatures, suboptimal grip, and a hunger for results, Petrucci's first test on the Barni team's Panigale V4R can nevertheless be considered an excellent result. He's the best of the independent riders on the track.
"The race pace was slightly slower today," Petrucci began. "We lapped a second slower than the tests. That didn't just happen with Nicolò but with everyone. But, like I predicted, he did another race. I can say I'm happy and satisfied. I thought I'd fight more with Bautista and Toprak but, in the end, it was difficult. I suffered a lot with the temperatures, and the grip was low. As a first race, it was really hard, and I almost got heat stroke. I was sweating a lot. Anyway. I gained some valuable points and, even if I didn't get the podium, I was still the best independent rider. Not bad for a first race."
We saw at least five riders who were fast enough to compete behind Bulega. You're one of them. What were you lacking?
"During the tests, I used the bike by taking a lot of advantage of the cornering speed when the bike was at a maximum lean angle. But it wasn't possible with these temperatures. The bike wasn't holding the line and there was a strong wind but, besides that, I don't know what was missing, because the pace was there. Scott also kept a similar pace. At the end, just as I thought, it ended with a battle between me, Toprak, Bautista, Iannone, and Redding. I think we can expect the same tomorrow."
What does being the best independent rider mean to you?
"Actually, it doesn't mean much. You have to get to the parc, closed, to 'boil'!" The rider from Terni said, jokingly. "You keep sweating, and you really risk getting heat stroke, because I was there and ... obviously, I wouldn't have preferred to finish fifth, but I would've preferred to go back to the pit and dive into the ice! It felt like Indonesia or Malaysia. I hope situation improves tomorrow," he continued.
Did you look for a challenge with Redding?
"Yes. I know him well, and I knew he'd come. I honestly didn't expect him to be so fast already in the first race. For you, it's certainly nice to have more of a challenge but, for us, he's another rider we have to fight with. But, unfortunately, we were all struggling, so there wasn't much of a fight. To ride, you had to be precise, because the grip wasn't the best, and it would've been easy to make mistakes."
Was it the race finish you expected?
"On the finale, we all had the same pace. There were those who were going faster in the corners, those who were braking, we were like an elastic. I wanted to be up there at the front to fight with Bautista. I was overtaken a couple of times, first just by Alvaro, who sent me wide, then also by Toprak in Race 2, when Van Der Mark also overtook me. I ended up in the back, and it was complicated. But I didn't think I'd be able to get away."
Yesterday, you said that whoever had the most desire to win would win. Did you?
"Yes, that's clear, especially for those last six laps, because it was tough- I wanted to stay in front of Scott, and I tried to reach Bautista to get on the podium, but it would've been very easy to make a mistake."
Do you already have a solution for the podium tomorrow?
"Maybe more throttle and less brake! Even if it's not always like that in racing. Sometimes you do worse. Not always do 2+2 makes 4. That's why I'm good, because I don't know anything about math!" he concluded with a laugh.
