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Third in the Superpole Race and fifth in Race 2, Danilo Petrucci was half satisfied at the end of the day. The reason? Having achieved less than he had hoped for and the potential he knows he has thanks to his V4 R. That's why the Ducati rider postponed the appointment with the top 3 until Portugal.
"This is a crazy track, but if you make a mistake it becomes impossible to recover. That said, we're fourth in the World Championship, so I'm 80 percent happy with the performance we showed and the improvements we made - he confided - Objectively, though, as of today it's impossible to say whether we can repeat what we achieved in Portugal."
"Phillip Island is a different track from the others and you brake mainly in two places. The Ducati is very stable and has good traction when the bike is leaning to the maximum. That's why I would have liked to have had a whole race where the rear tyre had to be managed. For sure the outcome would have been different, as I don't think those seen these days are the real forces on the field - he reflected - I am convinced that BMW will arrive and so will Yamaha. I believe that from Portimao everything will return as it was in 2024, although it would be nice to continue like this."
Going into detail about the long stop at Phillip Island, the rider from Terni pointed out, "Since Monday Bulega has done another job, while there was more fight from second place and there it was a matter of luck and little mistakes. This morning I was in the fray, but I soon lost contact with Nicolò. In the afternoon, however, I was still there, but contact with Razgatlioglu made me lose ground. It was easy to make mistakes, and I was good at not making any."
About the strength shown by Ducati this weekend, Petrux did not seem surprised: "At Borgo Panigale they are working well and it is not a surprise. Since Dall'Igna came in he has brought another methodology from Aprilia and changed the attitude of the team. I have always been attached to the brand both in MotoGP and SBK and I must say that we are doing very well as a brand and as riders."
Returning to today's performance, he added, "If I have to give myself a grade, I would say a 7+ for encouragement. Yesterday I didn't want to make a mistake and I stayed there, but today I was about to pass Redding when Bautista came, cut me off and at Turn 1 I had to close the throttle. Right after that, at Turn 4, Toprak came and touched me, at that point I lost further, kind of like in the morning when all in all I was okay. I went long, but was able to recover, while Bautista and Razgatlioglu went out. There I found myself third however detached from Iannone. In the afternoon as soon as Toprak got ahead of me I couldn't pass him anymore because in the straights the BMW goes very well and under braking he is a bit optimistic. To be upset about a fifth place is good, however it busts your balls a bit. We will try again in Portimao. In 2024 I was on the podium twice."
The upcoming rounds seem to be a bit of a question mark for Petrucci regarding the forces on the field. "It's hard to say how the BMW is set up because Toprak has an exceptional level of riding and always manages to put a patch on it, however Bulega has an extra year of experience and in the winter tests he went very strong. As for me, I want to be in the game. I have no goals other than to improve on last year's performance."
The format of the Australian weekend certainly muddied the waters. "Here we experienced five sprint races, with the unknown factor of the pit stop where it's easy to lose a second and then it's hard to get it back, instead I would have liked to see a full race, as it's a track that destroys the tires. It must be remembered that a couple of years ago Martin lost the title here because he did not manage the race well. Overall however I am happy, I also won a beer and the bike went well. Bulega I didn't see, but except for Toprak the others I had no difficulty passing them," he explained.
