Petrucci: I'm ready for a factory team

Danilo Petrucci starts preparations for the 2018 MotoGP season at Sepang on Sunday already knowing he will leave the Pramac team at the end of the season.

Fresh from four podiums and a career best eighth in the world championship, Petrucci confirmed previous reports in the Italian media that he is "99%" sure he cannot stay at the satellite Ducati squad.

That's not necessarily bad news, since Ducati has a contract option to promote Petrucci to its factory team in 2019. But should Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo stay put, or other riders be chosen to fill their place, Petrucci will need to find another manufacturer.

"There are not so many things that are sure in life, but 99% this is my last year in Pramac," said Petrucci, speaking in the Sepang paddock on Saturday. "I have an option for next year in the factory team, but if there is not a Ducati for me I have to look around.

"Sincerely, here I have a good position, because I have the factory bike even if not really factory treatment. But for sure I have the new bike, not the old one. It's a very, very good position compared to other satellite teams."

But with Maverick Vinales already renewing at Yamaha and Ducati saying they will open negotiations with their current riders within weeks, Petrucci knows the window of opportunity to impress is very small.

"I don't know why the factory teams are choosing their riders so early in the championship. First of all because I don't know with how much focus and concentration you do the rest of the season, but it's not me that decides these things," said Petrucci, who will ride the new GP18 this week.

"We have to match this [early signing situation] so I'll try to be ready to have a good chance to go into the factory team. We will see. I think I'm ready to go in a factory team. But I have to deserve it and I want to show in the first races that I'm ready.

"I will try to be as fast as possible, I think it's the only thing that will help [to join a factory team]. If the factory Ducati is not an option - for sure it's my dream - but if it's not possible I will have to look around. And if there is still nothing, I have to go out and get a job!"

Aprilia, which attempted to sign Petrucci for this season, is considered top of his options outside of Ducati.

Petrucci's commitment to chasing his factory dream is not in doubt: He has lost 4kg in weight over the winter to try and reduce the rear-tyre issues he struggled with at times in 2017. The Italian is also trying to reprogram his throttle technique.

"I’ll try [to lose even more weight], but I need to check if I'm strong enough on the bike. So this test is the first test for the [GP18] bike and for me," Petrucci said.

"I have to at least remove all the doubts about my rear tyre consumption. We don't know if it's my riding style or the weight, so at least I could work on one thing during the winter. Now in this test I have to work on the second thing; my riding style. Try to be more smooth on the throttle especially and try to not slide a lot.

"For me it's a normal thing to let the bike slide but with this tyre we saw that in some races this was good, it was not a problem, but in some other races it was a big problem. It depends on the asphalt, from the tyre, from everything and first of all I think from the riding style. And I am very aggressive, especially the first touch of the throttle.

"If you follow your instincts, when the bike is up you open the throttle. Sometimes with this tyre you have to be more smooth, try to save the tyre and it's not easy to not follow your instincts. But I have time during this test."

Petrucci, about to start his seventh MotoGP season, lost out on victory by just 0.063s at Assen and 1.192s at Misano last year. Those were both wet races, as was his third place at Motegi, but Petrucci was also third in the dry at Mugello (and only 2.3s from victory).

The Italian has new team-mate this season in the form of Jack Miller, who will ride a GP17 Ducati.