Ducati MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci “can’t wait” to sample the KTM RC16 and ride for the race-winning Tech3 squad, but is desperate for his Ducati tenure not to end on a sour note.
Petrucci, who took his maiden MotoGP win following his promotion to the works Ducati team last year but was informed in the extended off-season that he would not be retained for 2021, secured a KTM deal for next year in June.
KTM’s commitments with Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira meant Petrucci had to settle for a Tech3 ride rather than a place at the works team, but the satellite team has now become a race winner for the first time in its MotoGP history, delivering the RC16 bike’s second win two weeks on from its maiden win courtesy of the factory team.
Petrucci had a difficult run to 11th in the Styrian Grand Prix race won by Tech3’s Oliveira, losing out at both the start and the subsequent restart, and struggling after the red flag.
Asked by The Race whether a win by his future team was a consolation, he said: “Yeah, I already knew that team and that bike is able to win races.
“I always trusted in those people, and since the beginning, I saw really good improvements since the second half of last year, and when the possibility to go to that factory came, in May, I took it at the first moment.
“And I really believe in that project. I’m really happy for them, and cannot wait to go, to try [the bike], but first of all, I have to change the direction of this year, because I am not absolutely satisfied and I don’t want to change shirts with that spirit and with that mood.
“I want to arrive at the end of the year with a very positive mood.”
Petrucci is yet to finish higher than seventh this year, in stark contrast to the lively start to his Ducati works stint a year prior.
His promotion to the Bologna marque’s factory team had been a dream move, yet Petrucci’s form dropped off dramatically in the second half of last year, and it came as no surprise when Ducati took the decision not to extend his deal even before any MotoGP racing took place in 2020.
And this year so far has proven no better. Like team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, Petrucci has struggled to get the new Michelin rear tyre working for him – and while Dovizioso has made a breakthrough of sorts at the Red Bull Ring, Petrucci remains mired in the mid-pack, with a bike that “became very unstable”.
The Italian says he is unable to get his braking right. “I still have to set up a little bit better, to stop the bike better and to use more the rear tyre to stop the bike because at the moment it’s the main thing we miss, and it’s the thing that allowed me last year to be so fast at the beginning of the year.”
Nevertheless, the Styrian GP provided some light at the end of the tunnel, as Petrucci felt he was finally thriving in the laps right before the Maverick Vinales brake failure-induced red flag as a “best moment” of a difficult 2020.
“At the end, in that moment, the last five-six laps of the first race, I had the same pace as the first guys in front.
“It was one of the best moments of this year but for sure I’m not happy about the position I was [in].
“In the end, I think I understood something more. We keep it in Misano, for sure I want to change the direction of this year because I’m not happy about how the things are going.”
