The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s opening Australian Round let the talented field of riders loose on track at long last! Among them are BMW’s new pair of riders, Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and his teammate Miguel Oliveira. The pair took home strong results considering their new surroundings with the team and the limited preseason; however, the #9 clearly sees himself as capable of more.

SEARCHING FOR SPEED: “We tried to fight with the top guys, but we still need more speed in some corners”

Petrucci got the ball rolling early in Oz as he started Race 1 on the second row thanks to a P6 in the Tissot Superpole. Saturday was more of a struggle as ‘Petrux’ slid back to a P10 finish, then on Sunday morning, finding the same result in the Tissot Superpole Race. Race 2 is where Petrucci really earned his wage as heavy rain soaked the track, and in the early laps, the pack riding close together obscured each other’s view with the spray kicked up by the bikes. He steadied his nerves, and as the track dried out, he enjoyed some friendly sparring with his new teammate as they battled for sixth, an exhibition in which Petrucci came out on top for P6.

On his Sunday, Petrucci said: “Quite an eventful Sunday! This morning, we tried to fight with the top guys, but we still need more speed in some corners. It could have been better, but at the end of the day, it’s still experience. In the afternoon, the race was really difficult, especially at the beginning. I think I was cautious for almost half of the race because I couldn’t see a thing. I think for all the riders from third place and behind, it was really difficult to see with all the spray. I didn’t find a good feeling, so I was just in survival mode. In the end, we scored some points, and that’s good at least. We knew these races would be difficult, but scoring points in the long races was good. I’m quite satisfied with the weekend, but we want more.”

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER: “We are seeing the same things with the bike, and we know which areas we want to improve the bike”

While their results on the weekend have Oliveira in eighth place and Petrucci in tenth place in the Riders’ Championship – positions they feel they can do much better than. At the same time, it also isn’t lost on either of them that these aren't bad results for the first weekend of the season, at a track where their bike has never been particularly strong. More importantly to Petrucci, the team is working well together, and before Round 2, they will have another test to help them further iron out the M 1000 RR’s wrinkles.

On his takeaways from the round and how he feels the team is working, Petrucci said: “I felt really good with the team, they’re really confident, they know the bike much better than me. We worked a lot and worked well, with a good atmosphere in the garage. All the guys in my team are really happy. We knew it would be a difficult weekend. It would have been really easy to make a mistake in Race 2, so we’re happy about the results. Miguel and I had a really nice fight; at least we are at similar levels with the bike. We are seeing the same things with the bike, and we know which areas we want to improve. As I said many times, Miguel is a great guy. I think we’re getting ready to fight for the top positions in the future.”

Next up, much more BMW-friendly territory as the field flies back to Europe for the Pirelli Portuguese Round! Watch it live or OnDemand with the WorldSBK VideoPass!