If, after the opening couple of rounds of 2023, you’d have said that Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) would have one of the biggest smiles going into summer, you might have raised a few eyebrows, but the wonderful thing about motorcycle racing is that it’s wildly unpredictable. Heading into a five week break, rookie ‘Petrux’ will be one of the riders to watch out for when action resumes, as he dazzled at the Autodrom Most with a double podium at the Acerbis Czech Round, including a career-best finish of P2 in Race 2.

Race 1 on Saturday was all about a tyre gamble as the race got underway in wet conditions, but the track dried out very quickly. Petrucci had opted for intermediate tyres and dropped down to 11th on the opening three laps, before on Lap 5, being up inside the top three. Petrucci was second on Lap 10 when he took advantage of a mistake by Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) at Turn 13, although the Turk soon got back ahead. From then on in, it was a fine show from Petrucci, who also enjoyed battling with ex-MotoGP™ teammate Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team).

On Sunday, the 32-year-old Italian got his elbows out again, this time at the first chicane on the opening lap, pushing Razgatlioglu wide and re-joining right on the apex of Turn 2. He finished eighth come the chequered flag and lost further ground from his third row start, dropping to P10 before fighting back to P7 on Lap 4. Up into P6 by Lap 13, the final third of the race was when Petrucci really came into his own, lapping quicker than all the riders ahead of him. When race leader Razgatlioglu crashed out, he gained two positions, with a pass on Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) on the same lap. On Lap 20, he was into the podium places, passing the factory Ducati of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), whilst going head-to-head with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) for P2 on the final lap in a tantalising battle with the six-time World Champion where he came out on top in a last corner shootout and run to the line.

Talking about an eventful Sunday, Petrucci revelled with his best finish of a rookie season: “It was really tough today. This morning, in the Superpole Race, I made a mistake in the first corner. I was between Bassani and Toprak and needed to release the brake. The starting position for Race 2 was so bad. At the first corner in Race 2, Gerloff crashed in front of me, and I lost another position. I said ‘okay, today’s not my day’. I found a good rhythm and I had to push. At least, I wanted to be the top Independent. I passed Gardner and I thought it was good, but the podium was not so far away! I had Bassani behind me, pushing me, so I pushed again, and I saw Toprak crash. Rinaldi was in front of me, in third position, so I had to try. I passed Michael but I knew him and Bassani wanted to be on the podium, so I pushed a lot. Jonny was in front and in the last lap, we had a big, big fight. We passed each other I don’t know how many times; we were side by side. In the penultimate corner, I went to the inside, but he crossed the line, and we did the last corner side by side. A second position is really good.”

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