The “two faces” of Danilo Petrucci’s Portuguese WorldSBK

Danilo Petrucci was enjoying one of his best weekends to date in WorldSBK at Portimao, before the evening schedule brought windy conditions in Race 2.

Petrucci, who was second in both Race 1 and the Superpole Race, had to make do with fifth in the third and final race of the weekend.

“Let’s say, two faces,” Petrucci said in review of his Sunday in Portugal as a whole. “This morning was quite good because I scored my best result in the Superpole Race: second place.”

In Sunday evening’s Race 2, though, weather conditions limited Petrucci’s potential. “I did a good start, I was first at the first corner,” Petrucci told WorldSBK.com, “but since the first lap I was fighting with my bike because of the strong wind, and I’ve been always a little bit in trouble when there is a strong wind because of my big body and especially because of my setup.

“Especially in the last corner, the front of my bike was really high, so I can’t be so fast in the middle of the corner. This meant that I was quite good at the beginning, I was with the others in the rest of the track, but in the last sector and on the straight I was really slow.”

Petrucci had targeted a top five before the weekend, but after starting from the front row and scoring podiums in the first two races of the weekend, he found it harder to accept his Race 2 result.

“I must be happy for fifth place, but I’m not,” he said, “because after two podiums, a front row start and so on I was looking for another podium. But it’s okay.”

Next up for WorldSBK is the French Round at Magny-Cours, a circuit to which Petrucci confesses a liking for. “We are looking forward to Magny-Cours,” he said. It’s “a track that I like, and we will see — we are quite close to the fifth position in the championship.”