Danilo Petrucci may have gotten a taste in Austin of what awaits him in his next life as a professional driver. A new stage which will direct it towards rally-raids. Indeed, the Texan track was dotted with holes and bumps that had to be identified and handled with as much caution as speed. But Petrux's grain of sand in Texas was his painful back which made him lose his way towards the top 10. The fact remains that he will sharpen his sense of direction during a navigation course that the Austrian brand gave him. prepared near Barcelona before going to Dubai and testing his new KTM. The Italian is already preparing for his Dakar…
The Rally-Raid for Danilo Petrucci is not a mirage. It would even be the oasis to relaunch a career which is at its epilogue in Grand Prix. Besides, Petrux already has his mind elsewhere: “ before Misano, I will go to Barcelona for a course, with Jordi Viladoms, who is the manager of the KTM team and who has a school where you learn the regulations and everything you need for navigationnot. It will be two days of theory and two days of practice. They will teach me most of the things I need to know and then I will arrive in Misano directly from Barcelona » rejoices the Italian.
After the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna and Made in Italy, he will then have the opportunity to touch for the first time KTM 450 Rally with whom he will be engaged in early January in Saudi Arabia. “ The first test on the bike, however, will be before Portimao, and it will be in the desert. We still need to define this a bit, but I think I'm going to go to Dubai for two or three days before Portimao. But then there will be two demanding MotoGP races, so the real training will begin after the championship ends » adds Petrux.
Danilo Petrucci: “the painkiller didn’t work well enough”
We bet he will be more comfortable on this machine than the RC16. Because yes, in Austin, Danilo Petrucci suffered terribly from his back, it was not because of an injury: “ dIn the last five rounds I had severe back pain. As a result, I could no longer move properly on the motorcycle. I tried to save tires as much as possible, it was okay. When traction problems arose at the end, I couldn't keep up and led the race alone until the end ».
Petrux crossed the finish line almost 42 seconds behind the race winner Marc Márquez in 18th position and therefore remained without points. “ I had problems especially in slow corners. I tried to catch up with the brakes, but I couldn't. I wasn't tired, but my back hurt all weekend. As my bike is very stiff, I felt the bumps a lot, I didn't think it would make me suffer so much at the end of the race. Before the race I took a painkiller, but it didn't work well enough » finished the teammate of a Iker Lecuona sixteenth and also exhausted at the finish.
MotoGP Austin J3: ranking
Credit classification motogp.com
