Danilo Petrucci returns to Italy after the brief MotoGP period in Thailand. His professional future remains uncertain.
Around the world of Danilo Petrucci ends in his Terni, after flying from the USA, where he ran the last MotoAmerica race, to Thailand, to replace Joan Mir on Suzuki during the MotoGP weekend. For a few days Petrux breathed the air of the world paddock again and closed this brief parenthesis with a smile. Little does he count having reached the finish line 20th, the goal was to have fun and he was hit in full.
It was a dream of Livio Suppo, Suzuki team manager, and many MotoGP fans, who hoped to see Danilo Petrucci on a prototype again, after his farewell to the World Championship last November. Since then he has competed in a Dakar, winning a stage, and an American Superbike championship, finishing in second place and playing with Jake Gagne until the last race. For the future there are various options on the table, but he has not yet made a decision together with his manager Alberto Vergani.
Danilo Petrucci plans his future
The wet race at Buriram did not work in his favor, despite being a specialist in rainy conditions. “But in the end I’m not last, I got two or three riders behind me“, He commented at the end of the Thailand GP. Difficult to keep up with the pace of a MotoGP without a specific training, in the first laps Petrux hammered at a good pace, albeit in the rear, but then with the drying of the track he increased the times and crossed the finish line with a delay of 42.5 ″.
In less than two weeks he should be back on track Joan Mir, after the ankle injury remedied in Austria. But if his conditions are still not optimal we could see Petrucci still in action with the Suzuki GSX-RR. It is not yet known about the medium-term future: “Fortunately I can choose, but I have to understand if I want to continue. Or maybe I’ll prepare for the 2024 Dakar“. No chance to see him in MotoGP full time again, his role as a test rider is also difficult, since his weight and height above the average make him an “atypical” rider.
The memory remains of having raced with a team that will leave there forever at the end of the year MotoGP. “I would have liked to finish in the points, but I’m happy and very proud to have raced for Suzuki. It could have been better – concluded Danilo Petrucci – but, considering that I only got on this bike on Friday and that the others have been racing for 17 races, I’m happy. It is difficult to make comparisons because I had my own set-up on the Ducati“.
