Danilo Petrucci’s (Barni Spark Racing Team) Race 1 in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was a rollercoaster. After being caught up in a Turn 2 crash on the opening lap, ‘Petrux’ was able to get his bike back to the pits under red flag conditions and ensure he was able to start when the race restarted. However, he had to go from the back of the Balaton Park Circuit grid after not exiting pit lane in the one-minute window, before he carved his way through the field to take a P5 finish during the Hungarian Round’s opening race.

Petrucci was due to line up from fifth for the original start, and the entire field got through Turn 1 without any problems. However, at Turn 2, the long left-hander, chaos ensued. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven) appeared to lose his Panigale V4R under braking, which sent him into Petrucci. After that, a further five riders went down, with Iannone given a double Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding on the opening lap, causing a collision.

Giving his view on the crash, Petrucci said: “I’m feeling quite bad because of my shoulder. Honestly, I received a big hit from the back from Iannone causing this crash. For me, it’s not acceptable for a rider causing this crash could restart. We scored some points, even if we lost some points from our challenger in the fight for third. I’m happy even if now I start to feel a little bit of pain in my shoulder and leg. I’ve been completely hit from behind and my shoulder was under my bike. We started with the spare bike, but it had no kilometres on it. It was damage limitation, but we missed an opportunity to stand on the podium.”

Petrucci was able to ride his bike back to the pit lane, but he was unable to leave it when it was open for one minute ahead of the sighting lap, meaning ‘Petrux’ was forced to start from the back of the grid. The Italian rider made light work of the opening lap, ending Lap 1 in 12^th place and he was inside the top ten by the end of Lap 2. Progress naturally started to slow for the Independent Ducati rider. He moved into ninth by getting ahead of Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team), before passing Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) and Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) to be in seventh by the end of Lap 4. He gained another position when Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) crashed out from second before making his final move on Lap 16 when he got ahead of Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team), finishing the race in P5.

Explaining his comeback, the #9 stated: “It was good at the beginning, I had good pace. In the second part of the race, I came close to the podium, but I felt both the front and rear tyres were in trouble. I said, ‘You did a great job, don’t waste that and try to stay up’. I saw Sam had more or less the same pace, so I stayed there and tried to overtake him in some areas, but it was too similar. At the beginning, it was fun, but I knew I couldn’t fight for the podium. It’s a good fifth place.”

Can Petrucci stand on the podium in WorldSBK’s 1000^th race? Find out on Sunday using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now 65% off!