Danilo Petrucci returned to action this week, participating in the two-day World Superbike tests in Jerez. The rider is heading into his second season in the championship and, for now, is not satisfied with the work done as problems from 2023 persist.
The Barni Spark Racing Team rider stated, as quoted by GPOne.com: ‘I thought that having an extra year of experience would be useful, but instead we “changed” the bike a bit to try to solve the lack of grip in fast corners. Let’s say I always have some difficulty when there is little grip in that phase, because when I weigh a little more, I put more strain on the tire. So I also have to try to change my riding style a bit’.
The problems reach the point where Petrucci feels that he was not able to make the best use of the new tires in either qualifying or race conditions: ‘I am not very happy with the times on new tires, because at the beginning I can’t take advantage of the qualifying tire or the race tire. It is the limit we also had last year, because although I am consistent and can do the same race in the same lap time, I cannot make a leap forward with new tires. It was not entirely voluntary that last year I recovered from the middle of the race, but a consequence of the fact that the others are much faster at the start, while I am at the end. I have to understand and change some things’.
Difficulties that Petrux was not able to eliminate even with a new Ducati Panigale V4 R, as he stated: ‘The bike is new even if structurally it is the same as last year, but I was not able to solve what were my weaknesses from last season, so I will have to change something more in throttle management and in other aspects’.
