Danilo Petrucci says he has “no excuses” not to perform in 2019 now he has become a works Ducati MotoGP rider, and that he needs to have “the best results” as he has the “best bike”.
Petrucci replaces the Honda-bound Jorge Lorenzo at Ducati next year alongside Andrea Dovizioso having ridden for the Pramac team since 2015, and aboard factory-supported Desmosedicis since last year.
The Italian came into MotoGP from the European Superstock series – in which he rode for Ducati – in '12 with the Ioda team on CRT machinery, and expressed pride in the fact he has ascended from having the “last-placed bike” to one of the best.
“I think when you join a factory team, you have no excuses and you have to perform, and we are for this,” Petrucci, who only has a one-year deal with Ducati currently, said.
“I joined MotoGP with the last-placed bike, and year-by-year I improve my position and I arrive to having the best bike, or one of the best three bikes in the category.
“This is a proud [moment] for me, because for Ducati I start as a test rider for Superstock production bikes, and step-by-step I arrive at the maximum point that a rider can arrive.
“This makes me proud first of all, and now I have to finish first because I finish many times last when I had the slowest bike.
“Now I have the best one, I need to have the best results.”
Petrucci says the most notable difference to riding for a works team is the amount of engineers on hand, and the level of detail they analyse each run with him.
“They help you run-per-run to understand the difference between the run before and what you say,” he added.
“They immediately have more time to check what you say, and then say 'this is true, this is not'.
“This is a good help, because sometimes the condition of the bike, of the track, of the tyres changes, and you feel you are struggling
“But sometimes maybe your are a little bit slower but you are doing good things, but you don't see the time coming.
“So you say 'this is not working', and with many engineers they can say what solution is better for you and this is a very, very big help.”
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