MotoGP journalist Danilo Petrucci, here is his first article “People of the night”

The man is gifted at riding a motorcycle, everyone has realized that, but his talent for handling prose is much more confidential. Never mind, La Gazzetta dello Sport (paper version) entrusted him with his columns so that the Pramac Ducati rider could make us experience his Qatar Grand Prix from the inside, which he hastened to write on the plane that took him back to Italy.

« people of the night », sang Jovanotti*. And what people, I might add.

“Like all self-respecting firsts, the MotoGP one is also held at night, under the lights of a huge moon and hundreds of spotlights which illuminate the track as if in broad daylight.

“And it’s awesome, let me tell you.” I would do lots of them, races at night, there is a surreal atmosphere. And then they are even more comfortable for us drivers, we wake up calmly and we arrive at the circuit very late than usual, at lunch time. I want to sleep in the morning and stay up late at night, so running here gives me the idea that everything is calmer.

“We are running in the middle of the desert. There is Doha, a city that changes day by day, a huge open-air construction site with skyscrapers that pop up like mushrooms from year to year.

“While I’m writing, I’m on a plane taking me home. I didn't have the opportunity to watch the race again on TV, but I was always a front row spectator. In every direction because I started from the first row, third.

" Well done ", I said to myself. Next to me Marquez second and Zarco on pole. The three of us broke the track record on Saturday evening which had stood for ten years.

“There was only Dovi left. He was the most feared. I have heard myself named many times these days among the favorites for this race and in fact I felt there too, in love with the bike and the track where I felt strong. But I feared Dovi and Marquez, I knew that when it was time to bring out that little extra they would be there. Dovi with his experience and his technique, Marc his genius and his madness. I wasn't wrong.

“I was convinced that a place on the podium was mine. I hadn't done the accounts with a young man named Rossi Valentino from Tavullia.

“I tried to pass him about halfway, threw myself on the inside into a tight left, he held off on the outside so I widened to gain speed and he pass into the next curve, a long accelerating corner in fifth gear. We walked through it side by side. Even though I had the advantage of the trajectory, Valentino de Tavullia resisted me on the outside.

“I was afraid of making a good omelette, but I wanted to be in front. I couldn't pass it. It was a race that resembled a climb to a Coppi Pass peak during the Tour of Italy.

“Zarco collapsed in the final, and that's when Marquez and Dovizioso clashed just as I was surprised by Pedrosa and widened to avoid contact. I missed the right train. I finished just in time to grab the top. It's good.

“I want to look at the glass half full. I opened this text by quoting Jovanotti because I thought of a phrase from this song: “The day changes laws and changes governments, summers pass and winters pass but the people of the night always survive.” It happened in winter in fact, but they are still the same two playing for the highest steps of the podium.

“PS Well done Dovi!!!! »

*(editor's note: Jovanotti, real name Lorenzo Cherubini, born September 27, 1966 in Rome, Italian singer, rapper, disc jokey and composer, considered one of the pioneers of Italian hip-hop).

Photos © Pramac Racing and Petrux perso