Danilo Petrucci says his third place finish in the Catalan grand prix was “like a victory”, following a tough battle with Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins.
The Ducati man found himself second following the lap two crash involving front runners Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso as well as both factory Yamaha’s of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.
While unable to keep pace with the race leading Honda of Marc Marquez, Petrucci displayed strong pace to fight for the runners-up spot with the pursuing pole-man Quartararo and Suzuki of Rins.
Rins looked to have put his GSX-RR’s superior cornering pace to good effect as he pushed past Petrucci’s Desmosedici at Turn 4, but was unable to escape thanks to the Italian machine’s blistering straight line speed.
Petrucci duly re-passed Rins for the last time a few laps later on the approach to Turn 1, but was unable to hold off a late charge from Petronas SRT pilot Quartararo, settling for third following a mistake from Rins.
“It was like a victory to take a podium. Before the race I thought to myself if I finish on the podium it’ll be like a victory, and at the end I’m on the podium,” said Petrucci.
“For sure the big crash at the beginning was a big help both riders were pushing a lot, especially Lorenzo who was so aggressive and I don’t know why.
“So I stayed all the race trying to save the tyre because I knew both Fabio and Alex would be very dangerous at the end so I thought I’ll do my race and we’ll see at the end.
“Alex tried to pass me several times, then eventually he got past. I managed to stay behind him for a few laps and saw him in a little bit of trouble so I got back past.
“Then I had a fight with Fabio which helped me to get away from the pack behind and I’m really happy.”
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