He had already come close to it for the Misano race, but this time everything should materialize: according to what AS revealed today, Danilo Petrucci will make his return to MotoGP in the Thailand Grand Prix, taking the place of the injured Joan Mir riding the Suzuki.
The 2020 world champion fractured his right ankle at the Austrian Grand Prix. An injury that had forced him to miss the Romagna stage. Already in that case, the first choice of team principal Livio Suppo to fill the void left by the Majorcan would have been “Petrux”.
The two sides talked about it, but then the Terni decided to give up, because he was still fighting for the title of MotoAmerica, in which he defends the Ducati colors, preferring to focus exclusively on the challenge with rival Jake Gagne. And on that occasion, the Japanese Kazuki Watanabe, a man of the brand in endurance racing, got on the Suzuki.
Meanwhile, Mir tried to get back on the Aragon, but he gave up on Saturday, giving in to the pain that was still too strong. A situation that invited him to be cautious and also skip last week’s Japanese GP, in which he was replaced by test driver Takuya Tsuda.
Mir’s ankle is making progress, but after one last consultation the doctors would have advised him to stay still at rest, as the talus is a bone that has little blood supply. This will lead him to give up the weekend in Buriram as well, with the hope of being able to return to racing in two weeks in Australia, at Phillip Island.
MotoAmerica ended Sunday, in which Petrucci unfortunately ended up defeated, but he will have an enviable “consolation prize”, given that this weekend the possibility of returning to MotoGP will be realized.
Certainly discovering the GSX-RR in a race weekend will not be the easiest thing in the world, but for him there will be a small advantage, given that MotoGP has not raced in Buriram since 2019, so everyone will have to start from scratch or almost. For its part, Suzuki is sure to put on the saddle a rider with proven experience, who in the premier class has won two wins and another eight podiums in 169 starts. But also a boy much loved by the Italian public and beyond.
#MotoGP #Petrucci #returns #Buriram #replace #Mir #Suzuki