Danilo Petrucci “didn’t notice any benefit” from new Ducati WorldSBK part

The Portimao WorldSBK test saw Danilo Petrucci try for the first time a new exhaust from Ducati, but it was not an update that made a major difference for the Italian.

Petrucci said that there was a difference in characteristic between the new exhaust – already introduced last year by Nicolo Bulega – and the one he ran in 2024, but not necessarily in terms of performance or potential.

“Not a big difference,” Petrucci told WorldSBK.com when speaking about the new exhaust.

“It was quite different about power delivery, but at the end I didn’t notice any benefit.

“Other riders are using it since last year. Let’s see for the race which exhaust we’re going to use, but I think we will put the same as the factory team.”

The Portimao test was similar to the previous one in Jerez with regards to the weather. There was a wet track on Tuesday morning and high winds, and when the track dried out in the afternoon there remained rivers across the track at turns four and 13. On Wednesday, rain interrupted the plans of almost all the riders for the whole day.

“At the end it was not really a useful test, but at least yesterday we had the chance to ride in difficult conditions,” Petrucci said following the two days in Portugal.

“You never know when you are here in Portugal, you can find always difficult conditions, so yesterday at least we had the chance to ride a bit – especially I always suffer a bit with the strong wind. So, for me, at the end we can take something from this test.

“But, in the second day, no laps for us – when we decide to go [out] it started to rain, then after a few minutes it stops; we decide to go with the rain, but the track was half-and-half; then [I was] hearing around that the track was really slippery, so we decided to not take any risks.

“Anyway, I’m quite relaxed about this because my bike is the same as last year, so we know which setup we have to use and – especially – we have two days in Australia, and those two days will be really important for the race after.”

Petrucci said that there is one key area he and the Barni team need to work on in the final test in Australia before the first race a few days later on 21–23 February.

“In these two tests we noticed that I felt a lack of confidence in the middle of the corner,” he said.

“I didn’t feel so much confidence in the front tyre when the bike is at the apex, on the edge [of the tyre].

“So, I think we are focusing for the test to resolve this problem, also because Phillip Island has a lot of long corners so it will be important.

“But, at the end, my bike is the same as last year and we have already the setup, so we are working on the details, but anyway I’m feeling good and positive.”