Is it due to regaining control after a difficult period during which we even began to worry about his 2019 season within the official Ducati team, or is it due to his massive build capable of heating his tires and splitting the southern wind of the Phillip Island circuit, the fact remains that Danilo Petrucci appeared today in great shape during this first day of the Australian Grand Prix.
3rd this morning less than a tenth of a second behind Maverick Vinales, the Pramac driver concluded the day in 2nd position, only 16 hundredths behind his compatriot Andrea Iannone.
With this extremely positive Friday, there is certainly something to bring confidence to the 28-year-old Italian and, perhaps, to strengthen him in the race for the title of best independent driver where he is tied with Johann zarco, 15 points behind the unfortunate Cal Crutchlow injured this morning and forfeited right here in Australia.
Danilo Petrucci, 2nd: “I am very happy. Japan was a disaster for me because I made two big mistakes at the start and my race was ruined from the start. Anyway, I then said that we were working too much on the bike settings and because Phillip Island I wanted to compensate for that with my riding style alone. In the end, it worked. I did a good lap even though I of course used Vinales as a reference in my timed lap. But I was fast, even with the worn tires. I'm happy with today, although we didn't touch the bike settings because I'm fast with the basic settings used in old races. Obviously it will be difficult over the race distance but we have to be satisfied with today. I feel like I have a good feeling with the bike. We have a few new parts that we can put on because Phillip Island is still a different circuit compared to the others, but I think we will keep more or less our basic settings. I want to concentrate and try to solve the problem first and foremost with my riding style. It worked today although, as I told you, I'm a little worried about the distance of the race.”
MotoGP Australian Grand Prix J.1 classification:
| 1 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'29.131 | ||
| 2 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'29.291 | 0.160 | 0.160 |
| 3 | 25 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha | 1'29.354 | 0.223 | 0.063 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'29.406 | 0.275 | 0.052 |
| 5 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'29.616 | 0.485 | 0.210 |
| 6 | 5 | Johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'29.686 | 0.555 | 0.070 |
| 7 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'29.739 | 0.608 | 0.053 |
| 8 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'29.838 | 0.707 | 0.099 |
| 9 | 42 | alex rins | Suzuki | 1'29.918 | 0.787 | 0.080 |
| 10 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'30.133 | 1.002 | 0.215 |
| 11 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'30.179 | 1.048 | 0.046 |
| 12 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM | 1'30.346 | 1.215 | 0.167 |
| 13 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'30.472 | 1.341 | 0.126 |
| 14 | 44 | Espargaro Pol | KTM | 1'30.545 | 1.414 | 0.073 |
| 15 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 1'30.734 | 1.603 | 0.189 |
| 16 | 41 | Alex Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'30.736 | 1.605 | 0.002 |
| 17 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Honda | 1'30.787 | 1.656 | 0.051 |
| 18 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1'30.830 | 1.699 | 0.043 |
| 19 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati | 1'31.166 | 2.035 | 0.336 |
| 20 | 10 | Xavier Simeon | Ducati | 1'31.275 | 2.144 | 0.109 |
| 21 | 12 | Thomas luthi | Honda | 1'31.539 | 2.408 | 0.264 |
| 22 | 81 | Jordi Torres | Ducati | 1'31.570 | 2.439 | 0.031 |
| 23 | 45 | Scott Redding | Aprilia | 1'32.045 | 2.914 | 0.475 |
| 24 | 7 | Mike Jones | Ducati | 1'33.633 | 4.502 | 1.588 |
