Saturday in Most ended on a positive note for Danilo Petrucci who was able to confirm the expectations demonstarted during free practice. After a qualifying session in which the Barni rider from Terni started from the front row, he then tried to chase on Toprak's and Bulega's paces. They, instead, were uncatchable, finishing on the third step of the podium. The Ducati rider, with 123 points, now aims to oust Bautista from his third place in the standings.
"I knew the podium was within reach today," Danilo began, at the end of the race. "The only uncertainty about the riders today was me, because Toprak demosntrated incredible speed during free practice, while Nicolò is able to fight with him every weekend, even if, after yesterday's fall, he wasn't at his best physically. This morning, we decided to change our strategy in qualifying. We only did one lap, then we went back to the pits and came out alone to prevent someone from taking our slipstream, and it worked. This track is difficult. You only have a few seconds to rest on the straight because there are so many changes in direction. So, physically, it was also very demanding for me. When I started to feel fatigued, I saw there were still fifteen laps to go!" He laughed. "It was tough. There was no particular point in the race where they had an advantage over me but, with each lap, the distance between us was getting greater. Anyway, I'm satisfied with this podium today. At the end, we showed that we can fight for third place in the championship, which I think is a good goal for an independent team to achieve."
You're one of the most consistent riders. Do you feel undervalued compared to Bautista?
"I definitely feel very comfortable with the bike and the team. I don't know what the difference is between my bike and the factory bike. As far as I know, they're very similar. Like in soccer, you sometimes have to put all the players together and, since last year, I'm trying to get the best out of my team. When someone makes a mistake, we are all close. Everyone is doing their best, and the mood in the team is really positive."
Riding a Ducati, you'll also have to deal with the change imposed on the fuel flow.
"They always try to slow us down on the straight but, at the end, there are also a lot of corners, and some bikes are better in those, while we have problems in some. The truth is that the Ducatis are really competitive. New people come and exchange a lot of data, which also comes from the MotoGP. Then, it's clear, excluding myself, Bulega is doing an incredible job, but all the Ducati riders are competitive. You always try to penalize the bike, but we also have to take into consideration who rides it. The bike doesn't ride itself. We'll see what happens."
This circuit isn't much different than Cremona, but you need something extra here.
"Cremona is tortuous, and the grip is low. Here, our qualifying tire isn't even a tire we use in the race. It's too hard and, yet, we use it for qualifying. In Cremona, I had trouble with the rear tire. I'm the kind of rider who likes to slide with the rear on corner entry, so I like the other compound. This year, the Pirellis have improved a lot, but the times in Cremona didn't improve for me, because I preferred the other tire. So, now, I have more difficulty in cornering the bike."