Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) headed into the Cremona Circuit as one of the favourites following his 2024 hat-trick at the Acerbis Italian Round, but he was on the back foot after not setting a fast lap for various reasons in Tissot Superpole, lining up from 13^th on the grid. However, on Sunday, he was able to fight back to claim P4 in Race 2 after he secured a second row start after finishing sixth in the Tissot Superpole Race, pulling off a Sunday comeback in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.

WHAT HAPPENED ON SATURDAY? Yellow flags and disturbed by another rider

Petrucci was able to post a 1’28.787s which was good enough to secure P13 on the grid, but this came early in the session. He’d have been hoping to improve on that during his second run. A couple of crashes in quick succession brought out the yellow flags, meaning ‘Petrux’ was unable to improve his lap time. When they were removed, Petrucci still had time for one more lap but could only manage a 1'29.349s, while Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) was given a three-place grid penalty for slow riding and disturbing Petrucci during Superpole. In Race 1, the #9 was able to finish in seventh after being in a long train of riders behind Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven), with ‘The Maniac’ in P4 and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) in P12 separated by less than four seconds.

SUNDAY’S COMEBACK: P6 in the Superpole Race, P4 in Race 2

Despite starting from 13^th for the Superpole Race, Petrucci made good use of the 10 laps to secure a good starting position for Race 2 as he came home in sixth place. That gave him a second row start and he was soon in contention for a top-four finish, although the podium trio were out of reach, with Petrucci finishing around 10 seconds back from Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) in third. Nevertheless, fourth place completed a remarkable turnaround for Petrucci after starting from the fifth row.

PETRUCCI ON HIS SUNDAY FIGHTBACK: “It was quite good to recover a lot of positions in the morning in the Superpole Race, and in Race 2 I had a good pace”

Discussing his fight back on Sunday, the three-time WorldSBK race winner stated: “Sunday was positive. It was quite good to recover a lot of positions in the morning in the Superpole Race, and in Race 2 I had a good pace. I was in fourth. I can be happy but, on the other hand, the first three riders were a step ahead. I was riding alone like last year, but this year with three guys so far ahead of me! Fourth place is good points for the Championship. We recovered a lot of points to Locatelli but lost a lot of points to Bautista. We struggled a lot with the rear tyre, and I think, in the next race, we’ll have a different tyre more suitable for me.”

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