Petrucci: P6 ‘saved the weekend but I’m disappointed’
Petrucci managed to ‘save’ a poor weekend by finishing sixth in Race 2, however, Portimao was the second consecutive weekend where the Italian’s pace was better than the results he ultimately achieved.
The Barni Ducati rider was one of the fastest riders in Aragon but could only managed one top five finish after a mistake in qualifying.
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And in Portimao it was a similar story for the former MotoGP rider, as front tyre woes in Race 1 and a ‘disastrous’ Superpole Race made it difficult to recover.
Asked if the weekend was a disaster given his recent form, Petrucci told WorldSBK.com: “Yeah, exactly [it was]. Sixth place saves the bad weekend but I’m disappointed because we found so many difficulties on Saturday.
“My front tyre was not good and I lost many, many places. We didn’t understand why until this morning but in the warm-up I was fast again so we didn’t understand this.
“Then we were forced to use the X tyre, let’s say. With my weight the X doesn’t last long and for me the Superpole Race was a disaster.
“In Race 2 I was able to recover some positions but for sure, I’m still thinking about the weekend I threw away in Aragon where I was really fast.
“This weekend I expected to fight for the top five like I did in Race 2 but we were a bit unlucky. We still need to find our best set-up with the X tyre.”
Petrucci has struggled more than most when it comes to extracting the most from the qualifying tyre in 2023.
His race pace has been brilliant, but being out of position has cost him some big results which is why it’s something he admits must be addressed next season.
“We need to work on this because every time we use the X tyre this year I can’t improve my lap time,” added Petrucci. “Other riders can do that so it’s my problem. I still need to understand how to do that.”
