Danilo Petrucci aims at the podium but one rider “has another pace” at Australia WorldSBK

Danilo Petrucci is beginning the 2025 World Superbike Championship with podium ambitions after a promising day of practice at Phillip Island.

The Italian has never stood on the podium at the Australian venue, but ended FP2 on Friday at round one of 2025 in fourth place and on a similar pace to Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu – albeit 0.8 seconds behind Nicolo Bulega who topped both practice sessions.

“At the moment, I think [Nicolo] Bulega has another pace, but we are there fighting for the podium with some other riders,” Petrucci told WorldSBK.com following FP2 in Australia.

“For sure, as I predicted, the wind will play a big game because in this track it’s always quite strong, but in the end we have to deal with it and the bike is okay."

Danilo Petrucci podium wish at Australian WorldSBK

On his podium potential, Petrucci added: “I would like to fight for the podium. For sure, there are many really fast riders, and then the race is split in two [because of the mandatory pit stop], so you can’t really manage the tyre and so on.

“You don’t have to do big mistakes and try to stay with the leaders.

“We’ll see, but at the end I’m quite happy, not really satisfied, but I think it’s a good opportunity, a good chance to stand on the podium.”

The win, though, was not in the Italian’s thinking thanks to the pace of his aforementioned compatriot and Ducati stablemate: Bulega.

“At the moment, on paper we don’t have the pace for the win,” Petrucci admitted.

“Nicolo was leading all the sessions, and I think he has always been in the first position and he’s got some tenths in his pocket.

“But then we have to first do a good qualifying lap and start at least in the second row, maybe better, and then it will be a great fight with some riders – I think five or six riders can fight for the podium.”

Petrucci also said that his feeling was not as good on Friday as at the two-day test earlier this week. He said this could be down to higher temperatures and stronger wind.

“Maybe it was a little bit hotter [in free practice compared to the test], and maybe with some more wind that is always a weak point for me,” Petrucci said when asked what the cause of his change in feeling with the bike could be.

“But, at the end, we are missing those two or three tenths; we are always fighting with [Andrea] Iannone, with Alvaro [Bautista] – we are there, but the time of the race is approaching and you want always to be in a better shape.

“But anyway, I think it will be a great fight with a lot of guys.”