Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) walks away from Hungary without standing on the podium in round for the first time in four rounds. His only other round this season where he didn’t achieve a rostrum result was the Pirelli Dutch Round, a round with similarly mixed conditions as what was seen on Sunday at Balaton Park Circuit. Despite the off-pace round, the #9 maintains his third-place spot in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship standings, 15 points ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) in P4.

SUPERPOLE RACE GAMBIT: “At the beginning, the track still had a lot of wet patches, and other riders were aware of this, and that’s when I led for about a half a lap”

His Race 1 P2 saw him finish behind factory Ducati pair Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), as well as Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) who continues to carry the banner for Yamaha in P4. While he was unable to fight through that group to get onto the podium, the Italian rider rode very well to recover from his back of grid start due to his bike not being fully mechanically ready for the restart after the first lap pileup. In the crash, he was the first rider to go down after Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) made contact with the back of his bike, culminating in seven riders seeing the gravel. His team's engineers worked quickly to try to prepare the second bike, but Petrucci stated that a miscommunication within the team caused a delay, and the #9 not able to get his bike out onto its starting position in time. Regardless, the rider was able to charge back to a P5 finish in Race 1 to end his Saturday. 

Overnight, rain fell on the track, changing the dynamic of the already unfamiliar new circuit. Petrucci, like several other riders, took a chance on harder intermediate tyres as opposed to the slick tyres that the majority of the field opted for.  While it came back to bite Petrucci, he did well to plug the hole and settle for P10, finishing first among the riders on the same tyres such as Bulega who finished in P13.

On his weekend and Superpole Race tyre decision, ‘Petrux’ said: “It was quite a chaotic weekend, since Saturday we had a lot of trouble. Sunday morning, I tried to roll the dice using the intermediate tyres. The track is normally very grippy, and at the beginning, the track still had a lot of wet patches, and other riders were aware of this, and that’s when I led for about a half a lap. Then, as the track started to dry, I tried to hold on, but my bike wouldn’t accelerate anymore. I lost many positions and fell out of the top nine positions. The first two laps were ok, but then I had no more support from them, and I was only going back down the grid. That made me have to start from 11^th for Race 2.

FOG OF WAR: “With 6/7 laps to go, I was fighting for third place with Sam, when I started to have issues with my visor.”

After falling out of the top nine positions to miss out on the points, the #9 had to start Sunday afternoon’s Race 2 from P11. Not one to settle for less, Petrucci strode through the field as he gained a position every lap for the first six laps. By the outset of Lap 6, he found himself behind Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), a fellow Ducati independent rider who has been enjoying a strong run of form. He gave the Brit a run for his money, however he began to suffer from visibility issues as he would go on to explain due to the inside of his visor fogging up.

Petrucci continued: “In the second race, I had quite a good recovery. It was fun, for a moment I was dreaming of standing on the podium. With 6/7 laps to go, I was fighting for third place with Sam, when I started to have issues with my visor. I couldn’t see anything because my visor was completely filling with water. It’s now been 2-3 races where I’m suffering this issue, I don’t know what it’s happening. I lost completely the feeling after that. I was just trying to hold on after that; luckily, I held on for P4, but I missed out on the podium because of that.

Catch Petrucci next time out as he and the grid take on Magny-Cours in the French Round! Watch live or on demand with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 50% off!