Danilo Petrucci should have participated in Cross Country this year with KTM, his former MotoGP team. But his season ended early after the Dakar held in January despite the Italian having won a stage as a rookie on a factory bike. This paved the way for him to reconcile with Ducati and he flew to the United States to race in MotoAmerica, where he currently leads the championship with a 13-point lead over Mathew Scholtz after the first four of ten scheduled rounds.
Gigi Dall’Igna, Ducati Director, stressed that winning the MotoAmerica title with Petrucci remains the main objective at the moment, but he will consider the Superbike World Championship as the next step in the Terni’s career in view of the 2023 season. confirmed in the official Superbike team next year, while the future of his current teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi is less secure following a second season as an official below expectations.
“For us Danilo is an important rider, MotoAmerica is an important championship and we are working to give him maximum support in this championship as well,” said Dall’Igna, who was present at Misano for the fourth round of the World Superbike. “Our goal and his is to win the championship. Once this is done, he will continue to think about his future and it is true that one of the options is to take him to World Superbike, but I would say that it is still too early to talk about it ”.
Danilo Petrucci, Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC
Photo by: Brian J. Nelson
Rumor has it that Petrucci is present with Ducati as a wild card in the Portimao round in October, a few weeks after the last round of MotoAmerica in September, to prepare for a potential full season with the team next year. When Dall’Igna was asked about the possibility of trying to run the Portuguese round with Petrucci, he replied: “I don’t deny it. Nothing is defined or established yet. But it is true that there is an interesting perspective we are thinking about ”.
Petrucci was a great protagonist of the Ducati line-up from 2015 to 2020, initially with the Pramac satellite team, then with the factory team. The rider from Terni took a memorable first victory on his home track, winning the 2019 Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. He then won again at Le Mans the following year before joining KTM in 2021 for what would be his last year in the premier class.
“Danilo is an interesting driver for several reasons, many aspects. He is a rider who has been linked to Ducati for a long time, he has done some great things with us. I repeat, because it’s true: every time I think back to his victory at Mugello in MotoGP, I am moved because it was truly something beautiful, fantastic ”, concludes Dall’Igna.
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