Danilo Petrucci reveals No1 hope for 2025 seat and targets decision “soon”

Danilo Petrucci says he would like to remain with the Barni Ducati squad for the 2025 World Superbike season and hopes to announce his plans “soon”.

The double MotoGP race winner had been one of the names in the fray to take over the factory Ducati seat should double world champion Alvaro Bautista have decided to leave.

With it looking increasingly likely now that a deal will be reached for Bautista to continue with the works Ducati squad, this appears to have made Petrucci’s future plans easier.

Speaking ahead of the Portimao round on Thursday, Petrucci told WorldSBK.com: “At the end, I think everything will remain like this.

“On my side I needed to wait for Alvaro’s decision, so I said ‘Ok, I have more or less the same bike’, so I would like to continue with Barni and I think this will be the solution for the future.

“I found myself really, really good in this team and we have the potential to win races if we put everything together. I hope to announce my future soon, in the next few days.”

After a year in the MotoAmerica Superbike series following his last season in MotoGP in 2021, Petrucci made his WSBK debut in 2023 with the Barni Ducati squad.

Scoring five podiums so far across 2023 and 2024, Petrucci has proven to be a consistent campaigner aboard the Panigale V4 and currently sits eighth in the points.

Petrucci and Bautista collided on the opening lap of Race 2 at Most last month, which dealt another big blow to the latter’s title hopes in 2024.

Barni rider Petrucci says both “immediately recognised” that neither was at fault, and noted that a request has already been made in the safety commission to have the startline at Most moved forward to reduce the entry speed on the opening lap.

“Yeah, I had the chance to talk with Alvaro after the crash and we recognised immediately it wasn’t the fault of anyone,” Petrucci added.

“We were just three riders in the same point with different lines.

“Alvaro, first thing he said after the crash was that this chicane is too tight on the first lap.

“In fact, we already asked in the safety commission to put the starting grid further to approach that corner with less speed for the first lap.

“I sent him a message to be sure he was ok. I have a good relationship with Alvaro, I have a lot of respect for him.”