Danilo Petrucci “scared” about physical condition in Portuguese WorldSBK podium fight

Danilo Petrucci stepped onto a WorldSBK podium for the second time in two rounds in Race 1 at Portimao, despite concerns about both his physical condition and tyre wear.

Petrucci led Race 1 in Portugal for much of the mid-race portion, after he took the lead from Alex Lowes and before he was passed later on by Toprak Razgatlioglu, eventually finishing third behind the BMW rider and his Ducati stablemate Alvaro Bautista.

“I feel tired at the moment, really tired,” Petrucci told WorldSBK.com after Race 1 in Portugal. “But it was a really nice race, I think for the first time I led a World Superbike race — it’s something I was trying to do.”

Petrucci had been keeping count, revealing later that “It was since 2022 in MotoAmerica that I was not leading a race.”

Speaking more about this Portuguese encounter, Petrucci said: “I was pushing, but 90 per cent because I knew it would be impossible to let Toprak [Razgatlioglu] go off. At the end he had something more, also Alvaro [Bautista] was a little bit faster going into the corners, but at the end it’s still a podium and it’s always a nice job”.

A number of things held Petrucci back later in the race, he said, including grip at both ends.

“In the second part of the race I was struggling a bit with the front tyre to close the corner,” the Italian said, “so I lost some corner speed and it was really tough to keep the pace.”

He was passed by Razgatlioglu as the race entered its final phases. The two switched positions a few times, but the final move from the Turkish rider was decisive as Petrucci explained.

“I like a lot turn one,” Petrucci said, “and I was braking really hard, but then Toprak did a really good job when he overtook me — he put himself in front of me on braking, so I couldn’t really go in [enter the corner].”

After he was passed for the lead by Razgatlioglu, Petrucci tried to push again, “but I was a little bit in trouble with the traction, too,” he said. A worst case scenario for Petrucci, then. “I couldn’t break hard, I couldn’t accelerate,” he added.

Following that, he was passed, too, by Alvaro Bautista. “I think in the last few laps I tried to put some pressure on Alvaro but he was a little bit faster,” Petrucci conceded.

Aside from the tyres it was Petrucci’s physical condition, with effects from his motocross crash back in April still lingering, that was holding him back in the race.

“I was scared a bit about my physical condition, especially the right arm,” he said, adding that the heat in Portugal also affected him. “I’m always suffering a lot the heat and the hot temperature,” he said. “I’m sweating a lot, and it’s something that really upsets me when I’m riding. [...] I’m okay for 95 per cent of my body but this right arm still has no strength.”

Looking to Sunday morning’s Superpole Race, Petrucci gave an insight into what might be to come, particularly, for him, another battle with Razgatlioglu.

“Let’s say it will be 10 Superpole laps,” he said. “With Toprak it will be really, really tough, but it will be a battle for a heavy braker, I think, tomorrow. I’m already really happy to fight with this guy [Razgatlioglu], it’s something unique.”