MotoGP: Analysis of Danilo Petrucci's performance during the tests in Qatar

For the KTM Tech3 Factory Racing team, and more particularly its new rider Danilo Petrucci, the testing campaign which has just ended in Qatar can be understood in two ways…

On the one hand, there is no point in hiding, this test was difficult, in the sense that all the KTMs were far from starting the season as they finished last year, that is to say with total domination of Miguel Oliveira.

In Qatar, the best of them finished 0,397 seconds behind on the first day with the Portuguese driver in 1'55.084. The second day, Miguel Oliveira improved to 1'54.666 but moved away 0,726 seconds from the leader.

At the start of the three additional days, number 88, still the fastest of the Mattighofen men, went down to 1'54.526 but conceded 1,343 seconds to the leader before passing the baton to Brad Binder the next day, the latter placed 1.447 from the lead, in 1'54.691.

In a way, the more things went, the less things went for the RC16s which anecdotally saved their honor on the last day on a track invaded by sand.

Sebastian Risse, the technical manager, however shed some light on the situation at the end of the tests: “We are talking about a track that is always “special.” We worked on development in all areas and then put everything together. The pilots therefore had a fairly demanding work schedule. We also know that Losail is not the easiest circuit for our bike, but we have a good base. We haven't shown everything we can do yet. In the race it will be a different story, as always, but above all we have a whole season ahead of us and we want to use it to show the full potential of the RC16. »

It is in this context that Danilo Petrucci discovered his bike, concluding the first day 23rd at 2,302 seconds.

Danilo Petrucci : “I'm really happy to have finished this first day. It was important. Although, of course, the main thing is to get used to the bike and find a good base of settings. We tried a lot of things, some worked, some didn't. For KTM and for the team, it's the first time there's a rider of my size, so we have to find a good set-up. Overall, I really like the RC16! The engine is very flexible and I enjoyed driving it. We know it's a long process, but I think we're already on the right track. It's only the first day. Fortunately, we still have four days and a few ideas, so I'm already looking forward to tomorrow. »

On the said day, the Italian gained two places but above all got closer to 1,855 seconds behind the leader despite a first fall.

“Today was another intense day of work. I understand the bike better every day. We've tried something that works, but clearly we need more time because the challenge is quite difficult. Unfortunately, I crashed this evening and I'm really sorry about that. Overall, I'm happy with the improvements we made today. Of course, we're still a long way from where we want to be, but we have three days left next week where we need to make the best use of the time we have and I think we can be competitive then. We improved the time a lot today, but it's still not enough. I would like to thank my team for their hard work. We must continue like this. »

A first section of tests that was all in all "normal" which nevertheless required us to follow our own path during the second series of tests.

This was the case on the first day of this one, since number #9 rose to 17th place, 1,795 seconds behind the lead.

“I'm starting to understand the bike and we're working very well, because today every change we made worked. This means that I'm also starting to really like the bike and I'm starting to understand what's going on. I can let the bike do what I want, which is the most important thing. We have narrowed the gap with the others. Of course, there is still a long way to go to get closer to the lead. But we still have two days left and I'm very happy with the way the bike and the team are working. So we intend to continue this tomorrow. »

Sand wind forces the last day, “tomorrow” was in fact the last really useful day, and Danilo Petrucci continued to close within 1,651 seconds of the fastest, although he lost two places in the daily standings.

“It was quite a difficult day because we didn't improve the settings much because we had to try something. This wasted our time and in the end we didn't find the step forward we were looking for. Unfortunately, we didn't find a solution today, so we still have to work on this. Yet we still have one more day, where we aim to try to be faster and work with a tenacious mindset. My feeling was basically the same as yesterday. »

However, on this last day in fact, Danilo Petrucci only conceded 2 tenths to the best KTM, and this is the second way to consider the performance of the new owner of the Austrian firm: from 1,905 seconds on the first day, the gap with the fastest RC16 increased to 1,129 the next day, 0,452 the following day and therefore 0,204 seconds on the last day.

Therefore, the conclusion seems quite simple to draw: if the KTMs were not really in the game during these tests, Danilo Petrucci's adaptation to the RC16 went quite normally over the days, and, if it continues like this, the friendly Italian could even come and play spoilsport among the official drivers of Mattighofen…

An assessment that the native of Terni draws up himself, on the evening of a final day in the form of encouragement.

“I am pleased with the progress made throughout our four days here at the Losail International Circuit. Unfortunately, we were not able to take advantage of this last day to improve further. Either way, we have clear ideas about what we need. I'm really looking forward to the first race. I am also very happy with the work with the team and the atmosphere. Of course, we still have to improve, because our goal is to fight at the top. For the race weekend, we will all be starting from scratch, so I am optimistic to start this new adventure. »