The great achievement of ‘Petrux’
With a race to spare awaiting the Jerez de la Frontera Round, which will decide the 2024 world title, Danilo Petrucci and the Barni team have in the meantime brought home a triumphant double in the rankings reserved for the championships respectively Pilots and Team Independent. If this is the second success in this world championship for the Bergamo team, for the 33-year-old Umbrian it is instead the first, great success in Superbike.
The value of life
An achievement made possible thanks to a total of 10 podiums achievedin which the first three victories in the series, all obtained in the home round in Cremona. A season that proved to be far from simple for the #9, absent at Assen following a fall during training that kept him away from the tracks: “That accident made me understand the value of life and what matters – he said after winning the title – from that moment on we were involved in some nice battles in the top-5, and in August and September we were really strong. I’m still fighting with Alex Lowes for fourth place in the Championship.”
Not a perfect weekend
Thus ends a long fight for the title with his compatriot Andrea Iannone, also winner of a race for the first time in Superbike this year and with a past in MotoGP, just like ‘Petrux’: “I’m really happy – he added – who would have ever predicted winning this title with three successes and many podiums, as well as fighting for fourth place in the Championship despite missing a round and a half? This was our worst weekend given that on Saturday I crashed, on Sunday morning I finished fifth and in the afternoon we struggled a lot with traction and we still have to understand why given that the tests carried out here had gone well and we were quite confident. We hope to have a good season finale in Jerez.”
Petrucci thus celebrates the title victory while awaiting this weekend’s round in Spain which will decide the 2024 world championship in the fight between Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolò Bulega, with Alvaro Bautista now out of the picture. Will it be possible to see the Barni team driver among the major title contenders as early as next year? “I think it would be really nice to fight for the top three positions of the Championship but looking at who we have in front of us we see big names, especially Toprak, Nicolò and Alvaro, really excellent riders and to beat them you have to be perfect. As for the title, I don’t knowbut it would be really nice to finish in the top three in the standings, but first we have to finish this season well. The one in Jerez (thinking about the last scheduled race) it’s always a special round given that we all tested there in January and therefore everyone knows the track very well. A track that I like and where last year I finished in the top-5. I want to enjoy this last weekend and then I think we’ll celebrate a bit.”
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