Danilo Petrucci will not have good memories of these two days of testing at Portimao, the last in Europe before flying to Australia and its Phillip Island track which will launch the season. To avoid feeling gloomy by then, Petrux will have to hold on to the good feelings he felt from the moment he discovered the WSBK Panigale V4R in Jerez. Only, it was before Portugal which therefore seems like a big step backwards. The double Ducati winner in MotoGP does not hide his disappointment, which does not mean that he is in complete disarray…
Danilo Petrucci is not the first to come and he knows that this type of painful turnaround is part of the game in high competition. The euphoria of Jerez had pushed him until Portimao who took it upon himself to stifle any overly ostentatious burst of optimism for what awaits him this season in WSBK within the team Barni. Riding the new version of the Panigale V4R, he does not put forward the argument that it succeeded fairly quickly to the 2022 model with which he had made his first rounds. The Italian is not made of this wood and it is on him that he bears the weight of what must be called a failure.
Danilo Petrucci: “ the new bike is a step forward, but I don't have it in hand yet«
Car Petrucci tried to find the solution during his two days in the Algarve. On GP One we can thus read his words: “ It was quite a complicated test. » he admitted. “ I had to try different things to try to have a configuration that I liked with the Panigale. The problem is that unfortunately I was never able to regain the confidence ».
Danilo then explains the situation: “The new bike is a step forward, but I don't have it in hand yet. In fact, I can't improve with the new tire and there is a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, I still don't feel the Panigale V4 like mine ". A remark already made in Jerez, but there, the gaps were abysmal... Twentieth with more than two seconds behind.
It is therefore a step backwards compared to last week's test in Andalusia. “ It went better in Jerez in terms of gap, whereas here I haven't even seen the classification. I was looking for a certain confidence which unfortunately never arrived » he repeats by way of conclusion. A doubt should not start to form in his head...
WSBK Portimao J2: times
