Danilo Petrucci “not even at half the potential” of WorldSBK BMW

There is more than 50 per cent of performance margin available in the BMW M1000 RR for Danilo Petrucci, the Italian thinks.

Petrucci finished the final day of World Superbike preseason testing at Phillip Island in 12th place and almost 0.3 seconds behind teammate Miguel Oliveira.

The Australian test was a first chance for Petrucci to ride the M1000 RR in consistent dry conditions since last November, when he tried the bike for the first time, after wet weather hampered testing plans at both Jerez and Portimao in January.

“It has been really good, finally, to hit the track with some good weather,” Danilo Petrucci told WorldSBK.com after day two in Australia.

“Let’s say it has been a long way because this bike is really good but really different to what I was used to. So, at the beginning I was a little bit in trouble, but then step-by-step we are coming and I must say we are not far from the top-five. 

“It’s good, I think we can be into the top-10 during the race. 

“I don’t know the bike still, so I need a bit of time. Because of my size and my weight I always need something different and maybe one or two days more, especially to fix the geometry of the bike. But I’m confident. 

“We are using this race as a test. I’m happy, not satisfied because we are not even at half of the potential, but it’s alright.”

Petrucci is now able to understand some of the M1000 RR’s characteristics, and he thinks the bike is especially strong in hard braking, but misses out in long corners.

“This bike is so stable and so good, especially on braking,” he explained. 

“The power delivery helps you a lot. From the outside I was a little bit scared in the past because I always was hearing the bike really screaming like a Formula 1, but then when I jumped on it the power delivery is so smooth and gentle, and this helps you to brake hard.

“This bike is made to brake hard, turn, and accelerate – it’s really good at it. Unfortunately, in Phillip Island we don’t have many places, just two corners, where you have to brake really hard; the other corners are long and quite fast. 

“But I must say that I’m enjoying. 

“For sure I want to see myself in the top-five, but I think that we’re going to get there soon.”

“Can’t enjoy” long corners

Petrucci wants to work on finding more turning going forwards, having found himself unable to “enjoy” Phillip Island’s many long, fast corners during the test.

“At the moment, I don’t feel the bike turning as I want, especially in long corners, so corner two, six, nine, the last corner – all on the left side but especially long corners and they’re always coming backwards, so you need a lot of turning power and at the moment I can’t really enjoy this kind of corner,” Petrucci said.

“But let’s say I need to understand how to approach and I think we can be fast. 

“For sure, we are not aiming at the podium or whatever because our target is to be safe, to score as many points as possible, and then we have another test in Portimao and a race in Portimao, so from there we can start to be more competitive.”