Danilo Petrucci has hailed Ducati’s 2023 specification Desmosedici MotoGP machine as “the best motorcycle I’ve had” following his one-off outing in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

The Italian was brought back into the factory Ducati outfit for the first time since he left the team at the end of 2020 as a replacement for the still-injured Enea Bastianini, Petrucci scoring solid points for 11^th in an attritional encounter having made steady progress with the latest evolution of Ducati’s premier class prototype across the event.

Speaking to Austrian publication Speedweek following his solitary outing with the squad he scored his two MotoGP wins across the 2019 and ’20 campaigns, Petrucci described the bike as “the best motorcycle I’ve had in my life” due to Ducati having “solved the problems” the Desmosedici suffered from when he last competed with it over two years ago.

He added though that this actually made it trickier for him to adapt, Petrucci describing that he was not used to “being able to accelerate so early” mid-corner, largely the chief issue Ducati struggled with during the timeframe he raced with the manufacturer.

“It was the best motorcycle I’ve had in my life,” explained Petrucci.

“The Ducati factory solved the problems we had back then, the power delivery is much better today. 

“You can carry the speed with you much better through the corners and at the same time hold the line. 

“And the traction never breaks; the bike has always been very good on the brakes.

“I stumbled because I’m not used to being able to accelerate so early in the apex of a curve.

“It used to be impossible on the Ducati and I’m having trouble with it on the Superbike again this year. 

“As soon as I accelerate so early on the Superbike, the rear wheel slips away – that’s why I was late with the MotoGP machine in every corner and I then had to push on the brakes to make up for lost time. But the track wasn’t in an easy condition, so I had to go far a few times.”

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Danilo Petrucci will make a one-off return to the factory Ducati MotoGP outfit for next weekend’s French Grand Prix as Enea Bastianini continues to recover from an injured shoulder.

Bastianini has been absent from premier class competition since sustaining a fracture in his right shoulder following a clash in the season-opening Portuguese GP sprint race with VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini, though he elected to make his return in last weekend’s Spanish GP having missed the Argentina and North America weekends.

Having completed Friday practice at Jerez off the pace, Bastianini decided to miss the remainder of the event as he continued to suffer discomfort with the shoulder, the Italian now electing to skip the French outing as well with view of a return to full-fitness for his home race at Mugello in three weeks time.

Petrucci admitted that while he is “thrilled” to be returning to the squad with which he both of his MotoGP victories – his last coming at a sodden Le Mans in 2020 – he is “very sorry” that it had to come at the behest of the injured Bastianini.

“I am thrilled to be back racing in MotoGP, although I am sorry that Enea has to miss another race,” said Petrucci.

“In Le Mans with the Desmosedici GP, I won my last race in MotoGP.

“It will be an honour to be able to try the World Champion bike and wear the suit that I won with in the past.

“It is an indescribable emotion, and I can’t wait to get back on track with the Ducati Lenovo Team.

“Thanks to Barni (Ducati World Superbike Team) for letting me take this opportunity and to Ducati for thinking of me!”

Petrucci’s last appearance in the premier class was last year as a stand-in rider at Suzuki for the injured Joan Mir at the Thailand GP, the Italian’s last full season coming in ’21 with the Tech 3 KTM outfit.

His Tech 3 stay come off the back of a pair of campaigns with the factory Ducati team, Petrucci losing his berth at the Bolgona-based marque after it decided to replace him with now-KTM rider Jack Miller following an overall sub-par ’20 campaign.

He currently resides in the World Superbike Championship with the factory-supported Barni Ducati organisation, his best result being fifth in the opening race of the Indonesian round at the Mandalika International Circuit.

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Danilo Petrucci will make his MotoGP return this weekend in the Thailand Grand Prix at the Buriram International Circuit as replacement for the still-injured Joan Mir at Suzuki.

The Italian fell out of the premier class at the end of last year having been dropped by the Tech 3 KTM outfit following a tough year on the Austrian manufacturer’s RC16, Petrucci having previously enjoyed a strong six years with Ducati machinery – a total of two wins being achieved during a two-year stint with the brands factory outfit.

Mir has been out of action since suffering a nasty ankle injury in a first lap crash in the Austrian GP last month, the Spaniard attempting to start in Aragon after missing the San Marino GP before making his injury worse – forcing him out of the Spanish encounter as well as last weekend’s Japanese GP – with Suzuki hoping Mir will be fit to return for the Australian GP in two weeks time.

Having run Kazuki Watanabe and Takuya Tsuda at the San Marino and Japanese races respectively, Suzuki has now selected Petrucci to sub for the 2020 premier class world champion in Thailand – a chance Petrucci reckons is a “fantastic opportunity” to sample the Hamamatsu-based marque’s GSX-RR.

“Needless to say, I’m so happy for the chance to race in Thailand with Team Suzuki Ecstar,” said Petrucci.  

“I want to thank the Team for giving me this fantastic opportunity. I also want to thank Ducati and my current team management for letting me take this stand-in ride.

“I’m really curious to jump on the GSX-RR and try it, it looks very fast and we know it’s a winning machine. I’m also eager to work with the Suzuki crew, that I’ve known for a long time now and we have a wonderful relationship.

“I know it won’t be easy, so I’m not putting any expectations on the experience, I just want to enjoy it. I’m also excited to be one of the few riders in history jumping from a MotoGP machine to a Dakar bike, a Superbike, then another factory MotoGP bike!”

Petrucci has enjoyed a varied 2022 racing campaign so far with a maiden start in the gruelling Dakar Rally with KTM coming back in January before running a full season with the Warhorse HSBK Ducati outfit in the MotoAmerica superbike series that came to a conclusion this weekend – culminating in a runners-up finish in the overall standings behind Yamaha rider Jake Gagne.

His United States schedule is likely the reason for Petrucci not being drafted into Suzuki as Mir’s replacement earlier, with the team thought to have been interested in bringing him in for the San Marino GP.

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KTM is the subject of the final chapter of Motorsport Week’s look back at the six manufacturer’s of the 2021 MotoGP world championship season, a year in which the marque struggled to continue the head of steam it had created for itself across the preceding term.

The 2020 MotoGP season was something of a breakout year for KTM as the Austrian manufacturer finally escaped the clutches of the mid-field to become merited race winners-on three occasions no less-as well as ending up just four points adrift of second-placed Yamaha in the constructors standings.

Unfortunately it was unable to keep up the momentum it had accrued throughout the 2021 term, largely because of a change to softer compound front tyres that supplier Michelin elected to bring for the new campaign-doing away with the medium compound rubber KTM’s RC16 got on so well with last season.

Its struggles were illustrated by a disastrous Qatar double-header to start 2021, with factory KTM man Brad Binder scoring its best result of eighth in the Doha Grand Prix-Miguel Oliveira managing a best of just 13^th across both encounters.

Things improved-for Binder at least- as he scored a superb fifth in the Portuguese GP, though Oliveira failed to finish higher than 11^th before KTM introduced a timely chassis update for the Italian GP at Mugello.     

The advancement rejuvenated the two-time premier class race winner as he flew to a first rostrum of the season by grabbing second behind runaway victor Fabio Quartararo, before racing to an emphatic third series success as he defeated the likes of the Yamaha rider and Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco in Barcelona.

The Portuguese ace’s electric form continued all the way until the summer break as he added his third-successive top two result in Germany- pushing race winner Marc Marquez all the way- while a run to fifth in the Dutch TT set tongues wagging about a possible title tilt, KTM left full of confidence heading to its home events in Austria after six weeks off.

A wrist injury after high-siding from his RC16 in practice for the Styrian GP put him on the back foot for the next few races, though thankfully for KTM its sophomore rider Binder was on top form.

A strong ride to fourth saw him continue the brands attack on the top five, but the best was yet to come for the South African.

He had managed to work his way into the top six once again in the latter stages of the Austrian GP, keeping the rostrum battle well within sight as he looked to try and stage a late charge-though a rain shower would turn the race upside down.

While the bulk of the leading train would peel off to pit for wet-weather tyres, the ever bold Binder elected to stay out and brave the rain for the final four laps on slicks.

Despite losing 15 seconds on the final lap alone to the wet runners-and picking up a three second penalty for track limits-he managed to hold on and score KTM’s second win of the year, a truly outstanding performance on a day where bravery was the tonic for victory.

This was as good as it would get for KTM in 2021 though as it mystifyingly lost the handle of its machine once again across the remaining seven events-Binder failing to breach the top five again while Oliveira’s form continued to elude him as he failed to finish higher than 11^th.

This meant he ended up just 14^th in the overall riders standings at the end of the year, though Binder at least managed to save some face by taking sixth outright-a hugely impressive feat as he failed to score just once all season, KTM slumping to fifth in the constructors.  

Premier satellite team Tech 3 struggled to an even greater extent than the mothership squad, Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona struggling to crack the top ten-the duo managing only four appearances in the ten all season- resulting in the French squad propping up the teams table down in 11^th and last.

KTM is hard at work making wholesale changes to its challenger, as well as its management structure for 2022 following the replacement of long-time Team Manager Mike Leitner with ex-Pramac man Francesco Guidotti, who held the same post at the Italian outfit.

Oliveira insisted in the post-season Jerez test that the marque has to change the entire “character” of the RC16 to compete with its rivals going forward.

“We just need to wait until the bike is fully together (for 2022) then push it to the limit and see what we can do with it, at the moment this bike is still very similar to this years and the character is still the same and we need to change that to compete with our opponents.”

Tech 3 meanwhile will look to make a leap forwards with an all new riding line-up, Moto2 stars Remy Gardner-the freshly crowned intermediate class champion-and Raul Fernandez stepping into the ring as its new fighters, the two looking to reignite their rivalry that fuelled a thrilling title battle in Moto2 throughout 2021. 

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Danilo Petrucci says he “cannot wait” to take to the start for his first Dakar Rally in January as he waved goodbye to the MotoGP paddock after the Valencia Grand Prix.

Petrucci’s time in grand prix racing came to an end after 2021 after being dropped from Tech 3 KTM’s line-up for 2022, the Italian receiving an offer from the Austrian marque to live out a boyhood dream to compete in the prestigious Dakar with its factory operation.

The ex-factory Ducati rider-with which he scored his two career MotoGP wins-tested KTM’s 450 rally machine in the dunes of Dubai in between the Emilia Romagna and Algarve GP’s several weeks ago and enthused that he “cannot wait” to tackle the 4000 mile route through the deserts and rocky outcrops of Saudi Arabia.  

“I cannot wait (to compete in first Dakar Rally) it has been tough this year so I started to ask myself what motivates me the most and where do I have the most passion, and that is just to ride a bike so I chose a sport where you just stay on the bike for many hours like the Dakar,” explained Petrucci.

“When I was 15/16 I wasn’t racing pocket bikes or Moto3 I was racing minicross so I thought maybe I could try and thanks to KTM they gave me this present, and it will be an incredible adventure.

“To me it is like a pilgrimage to the bike and I simply cannot wait to get on the bike and ride on the dunes and get out into the desert.

“It (MotoGP career) has been a big cycle for me, I started fighting for the last places in the races but never stopped believing in myself and then coming from superstock where nobody knew me, I didn’t know anything about MotoGP but I’ve won twice and stood on the podium many times.

“This year has been really tough so I said maybe it’s the right time to choose another way, and I’m so happy to have felt this kind of joy.”

Petrucci said seeing members of the grand prix paddock “getting emotional about me is incredible”, admitting he “couldn’t resist” crying after experiencing the amount of support he received ahead of his last race, adding that “MotoGP has given a lot to me.”

“It’s been a really emotional day, I told myself to not cry but when I arrived to the grid and everyone came to say hello I couldn’t resist,” continued Petrucci.

“It was really nice to see all my friends here coming to shake my hand one last time, I’m happy to have shared a lot of emotion with people and to see them watching MotoGP and getting emotional about me is incredible.

“When you wave your hand to a grandstand and thousands of people are saying hello to you it’s the best feeling in the world, and riding this bike is the same it’s unbelievable.

“Today I just tried to enjoy the last kilometres on this fabulous bike, MotoGP has given a lot to me.”

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Danilo Petrucci says it’s “unfortunate” that the Le Mans track surface dried towards the climax of the French Grand Prix after feeling a rostrum result was on in wet conditions.  

The Tech 3 KTM racer has always excelled in the wet throughout his MotoGP career having scored a top ten on an un-fancied CRT specification Ioda-Suter machine in his debut year in 2012 as well as a first ever podium back in ’15 at Silverstone in similar conditions, with his sole rostrum appearance of ’20 coming in the French GP where he streaked to victory for Ducati on a soaked circuit.

He quickly made his way forward as the rain began to fall in the early reaches of this years edition of the French event having qualified 17^th in a drying Q1 session, the Italian eventually taking the chequered flag fifth for his first top ten on a KTM following a difficult opening four races for new employers Tech 3 in which he managed just five points.

Petrucci reckons a fourth straight podium at Le Mans would have been on the cards had the track remained wet throughout, though conceded he was happy to bag fifth after nearly losing the front of his RC16 following his pit-stop after finding the track “like riding on ice.”  

“It’s always a nice place for me, I think I’m one of the only riders that likes to ride here in the rain and it was great to be the fastest rider this morning in the wet warm-up,” explained Petrucci.  

“The race was very difficult and easy to make mistakes, I made an error when I switched to the bike with the wet tyres as I went wide a bit because I lost the front because it was like riding on ice.

“After that I managed to have a good race, unfortunately the track dried so quickly because for a moment I thought I could finish on the podium for the fourth year in a row at Le Mans but I’m still happy as to be the best KTM is a really good result.

The two-time premier class race winner accepted he would be in for a “tough” outing at Mugello-the venue at which he scored his debut success two years ago- for the Italian GP in two weeks time, admitting that he is in a “difficult situation” finding speed in normal conditions with his new steed but that his Tech 3 squad are working “very hard” to get him more comfortable on the RC16.

“I really wanted to have a good result here because it is one of my favourite places, it’s also my team’s home race so I’m happy for that,” continued Petrucci.

“We are working really hard, we’re in a difficult situation technically but the whole team is working very hard to solve the problem.

“The next race is at Mugello where I won last time out (with Ducati) but it will be very tough this year because of the straight, but I have good memories there.”

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Danilo Petrucci led the times at the conclusion of the final day of MotoGP pre-season testing as a sandstorm that limited running severely meant only five riders set a time.

The Italian was the only man to post a laptime-a rather pedestrian 2:01.308s-prior to the lunchbreak as an aggressive sandstorm meant that track conditions were less than ideal, the Losail International Circuit caked in a layer of sand that also caused a severe reduction in visibility.

The session was red flagged for over an hour during the afternoon segment as marshalls ventured out to try and clear the circuit of sand, with Friday running ultimately restarting with just an hour remaining.

Petrucci would lower his gambit to a 1:58.157s by the time the session concluded-five seconds slower than Jack Miller’s testing benchmark- to bring an end to pre-season testing for the 2021 MotoGP season, with the campaign getting underway properly for a double-header event at the same Losail circuit for the Qatar Grand Prix in two weeks time.

Stefan Bradl managed the second quickest time for Honda 1.2 seconds from the coattails of Petrucci’s KTM, while LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami completed the top three a further four-tenths of a second behind.

Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro were the only other two pilots to post times on Friday, the five covering a grand total of just 43 tours between them.

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KTM has confirmed that it will remain a part of MotoGP until at least 2026 after signing a fresh five year contract with organisers Dorna.

The Austrian manufacturer stepped up to the premier class on a full-time basis for the ’17 campaign after contesting the ’16 season finale at Valencia with test rider Mika Kallio, having already achieved considerable success in the Moto3 world championship since entering the series at the start of the millennium.

KTM has improved considerably over its four seasons running the RC16 model, Pol Espargaro scoring the brands first rostrum in the ’18 season finale at Valencia before South African rookie Brad Binder scored its first ever victory at Brno towards the start of the Covid-19-shortened ’20 campaign.

KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer says the Austrian firm was looking forward to building upon the “four great years” that has established the manufacturer as a front runner, praising the “solid base” built up in the relatively short time frame.

“I’m extremely happy to be able to announce this new five-year contract with Dorna,” said Beirer.  

“I want to take this opportunity to thank Dorna especially and Mr Carmelo Ezpeleta and his whole team because we’ve had four great years together already and they are a really professional partner in this important sport.

“After only a few seasons we have put this project on a very solid base, so it is a positive step to continue our MotoGP involvement up to 2026.”

KTM heads into 2021 off the back of its most successful season to date, with Tech 3 satellite squad and ’21 factory rider Miguel Oliveira having added a pair of victories in Austria and homeland Portugal to Binder’s earlier success.

Whilst not scoring a win of his own, departing long-standing rider Espargaro racked up five podium finishes across the year to claim KTM’s highest rider points result of fifth-just four points down on the third placed Suzuki of Alex Rins-while it ended the year fourth in the constructors standings only 21 points down on champions Ducati.

Espargaro elected to switch allegiance from KTM to Honda ahead of the delayed ’20 season-having competed with the marque since its first year in ’17-with the Spaniard being replaced by Oliveira, the Portuguese racer joining sophomore pilot Binder in the factory team.

Joining Iker Lecuona at Tech 3 next year is Ducati refugee Danilo Petrucci, the Italian keen to mount a career resurgence after two largely underwhelming years in red that saw him finish ’20 a disappointing 12^th overall, though victories at Mugello and Le Mans in ’19 and ’20 somewhat brightened his Ducati tenure.  

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In the final edition of the 2020 MotoGP season review, Motorsport Week reflect on a turbulent campaign for Ducati symbolised by the end of an era with long-time pilot Andrea Dovizioso, while ultimately culminating in a seemingly unlikely title success.

With Marc Marquez missing pretty much the entirety of the 2020 MotoGP season after breaking his arm in a crash during the season opening Spanish Grand Prix, three-time premier class runner-up of the past three seasons-Dovizioso-immediately became one of the favourites for a maiden title.

The Ducati racer enjoyed several thrilling battles with Marquez across those campaigns, though he and the Desmosedici ultimately lacked the consistent speed and results of the Honda man to wrestle away the title.

What should have been a relatively easy march to the championship-especially considering the lack of consistency put on display by most of the ’20 class across the year-ultimately became a messy year of divorce and lack of speed, particularly for the factory Ducati squad.

A change to the construction of Michelin’s rear tyre played against the strengths of the Desmosedici, with all its riders complaining of reduced braking stability in particular as a result of the change, something that affected its rival manufacturers minimally.

Despite this Dovizioso still started the year on the podium in the first round at Jerez with third, though could only bag sixth the following week at the same venue.

Ducati’s GP20’s struggled as a collective at Brno-a worrying sign considering the brand’s past success at the Czech circuit-although well and truly came back to the fore at its traditional stomping ground-the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

A quick mention at this point needs to go to Johann Zarco though, the Frenchman managing to put his Avintia-run GP19 machine on pole at Brno before racing to the Spanish team’s first ever podium finish on Sunday, taking third despite having to serve a long-lap penalty.

Shortly after qualifying for the Austrian race Dovizioso announced that he would not return to race in red for ’21 following 18 months of increasing animosity between the two parties, the Italian frustrated with the lack of progress from Ducati regarding the Desmosedici’s mid-corner turning weaknesses, while the Bologna-based marque reckoned Dovizioso hadn’t done enough to take the title battle to Marquez.

Dovizioso’s decision meant Ducati’s factory outfit would be running an all-new line-up for the following season after electing to replace Danilo Petrucci with Jack Miller following the ’19 Italian GP winner’s slump in form towards the end of that year-with the other Pramac rider of Francesco Bagnaia ultimately capturing Dovizioso’s berth.

With the paddock still reeling from Dovizioso’s decision to leave Ducati after seven years, he brought his classic best to score an emphatic victory just 24 hours after making his course of action public, heading Suzuki’s Joan Mir and Pramac’s Miller by less than two seconds.

Little did we know it at the time, but Dovizioso’s Austria success would not only be his last victory with Ducati, but also his last rostrum after its underlying pace problems failed to improve throughout the year.

In what was a bizarre twist, all four of Ducati’s GP20 challengers seemed to hit purple patches of form at different parts of the year, culminating in a result that seemed impossible as the season flashed past the mid-way point.

Bagnaia had missed three races after fracturing his knee during opening practice for the Czech GP, but on return at Misano stunned his rivals with his speed on his way to a debut premier class rostrum with second behind Fabio Quartararo.

He then looked to go one better just seven days later at Misano once again, leading the way with just seven laps to go-albeit under siege from a charging Maverick Vinales’ Yamaha-though disaster would strike as he tucked the front of his Pramac machine after running over a errant tear-off at the awkward Turn 6 left-hander.

Bagnaia’s form would mystifyingly disappear across the remaining eight races, the ’18 Moto2 world champion picking up five DNF’s and only one further top ten on his way to a lowly 16^th in the riders standings.

Petrucci meanwhile proved Ducati’s decision to replace him for ’21 after suffering a largely dismal final year with the manufacturer, his only bright spot coming at a soaked Le Mans as he mastered the difficult conditions to record a second career victory.

Aside from this he managed a best result of just seventh on his way to 12^th overall, just a point clear of Zarco on a year-old bike run by an Avintia team with significantly less funding available to it.

Dovizioso was at least able to remain part of the championship conversation thanks to his customary consistency across the rest of the campaign, though his inherent lack of pace ultimately meant his title hopes died after Mir wrapped the title up with a round to spare at Valencia-ending the year a distant fourth level on points with KTM’s Pol Espargaro.

Miller meanwhile came into his own hot streak as the season reached its climax, the Aussie narrowly missing out on a first win of the year following a tight battle with Franco Morbidelli in the second Valencia contest, before getting his own back on the Petronas SRT racer in the season finale at Portimao as he snatched second with just a handful of corners remaining.

His strong end to the year saw him take seventh overall level on points with sixth placed Vinales-the Spaniard getting the nod to seventh thanks to his Misano victory-and just three points down on Dovizioso.

Despite Ducati missing out on the riders title it so craved, it at least-helped in some part by Yamaha’s 50 point penalty for running illegal engines in the Spanish GP as well as Suzuki’s disastrous Portuguese outing-secured its first manufacturers championship since 2007, bringing a ray of light at the end of what was a largely frustrating campaign in which all three accolades went begging.

The ’20 season was certainly not the way anyone wanted the Dovizioso-Ducati swan-song to play out, the 15-time MotoGP winner finally grabbing the title and riding off into the sunset after three successive vice-champion results was a very real possibility early on after all.

Time will tell as to whether Ducati will come to regret losing its star rider, but for now it has selected youth to carry its hopes into the future with the 23 and 25 year old Bagnaia and Miller respectively, while Zarco and Moto2 graduate Jorge Martin will be keen to make their mark as they take to the ’21 starting grid with Pramac. 

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Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso says he was “disappointed” and “angry” after being denied a Q2 spot by team-mate Danilo Petrucci utilising his slip-stream during Q1.

Petrucci completed all three of his runs in the first part of qualifying behind Dovizioso, picking up time on the 1.2km long back straight towards the final turn of the Motorland Aragon circuit.

Last weekend’s French GP victor topped Q1 by a tenth-and-a-half as a result of gaining from his team leader’s tow, while Jack Miller managed to slip ahead of Dovizioso by just 0.015 to snatch away the final spot into Q2-leaving him 13^th on the grid for the Aragon Grand Prix.

A furious Dovizioso displayed a rare loss of composure by throwing his racing gloves across the garage after touring back into the pits following Q1, the usually-calm Italian subsequently describing Petrucci’s Q1 strategy as “not a smart move” post qualifying.

“I was really disappointed because it was a really difficult weekend until this point because of the temperatures, this afternoon we stayed calm and continued to work and at the end the speed was good,” explained Dovizioso.

“My confidence was high to push in qualifying, I was able to do it (lap quickly) alone and I was satisfied with that.

“I was very disappointed to see the lap-time of Danilo (Petrucci), he did three laps behind me and he didn’t have the speed so to see him do this and get to Q2 without the speed wasn’t a smart move, especially because I’m the only Ducati rider fighting for the championship.

“I was very angry about that.”

The three-time MotoGP vice champion added that it would be “very difficult” to recover from his fourth row starting spot, earmarking tyre degradation as a key theme to look out for during the 23 lap encounter.

“This year-especially with this tyre- it’s very difficult to start towards the back and recover positions, everybody is fast and the tyre degradation will be really high,” continued Dovizioso.

“I think it will be harder than last year, because we have a good speed but not enough to be ahead of the top riders.

“We will try to have a great start, the race is long and the tyre degradation will be important to focus on.”

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