Emotions were in full flow – just like the Prosecco DOC – for Danilo Petrucci and the Barni Spark Racing Team, as one of the fans’ favourites took a first podium in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. The Italian rookie, back at Donington Park for the first time since 2009, was knocking on the podium door all weekend and finally, with a fantastic final push towards the end of the race, he came through the riders ahead of him, ending Marco Barnabo’s team’s five-year drought without standing on the box.

The weekend started strongly for ‘Petrux’, as he took a first front row in WorldSBK, before finishing fourth in Race 1, where he admitted after that he had “the image of my team boss with his head in his hands from Misano”, and how he wanted to avoid a repeat performance. In the Tissot Superpole Race, Petrucci battled hard and came away with P5, whilst it was a late charge in Race 2, when he got ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and his teammate Alex Lowes, that put Petrucci in with a podium shot. He broke clear of Rea and at last, returned to the rostrum, with great scenes of triumph and jubilation in Parc Ferme.

Speaking after the race, Petrucci’s smile and happiness said it all: “I’m so happy especially for my team and for myself. Just two rounds ago, in Barcelona, I said ‘this is tougher than I thought’. We did a good job. After the Superpole Race, I wasn’t feeling so good. I was quite far away in the middle part of Race 2 but then I found a really good rhythm. I was really fast in the flowing part but then, in the chicane and hairpin, I was not really good, and this is where you can pass other riders. It was difficult for me. I did not expect to reach my first podium today.”

Making his own bit of history, the 32-year-old became the 34^th different rider to have achieved a MotoGP™/500cc World Championship podium, as well as one in WorldSBK. He also becomes the 129^th different rider to achieve a WorldSBK podium, the 21^st from Italy and the 53^rd to do so with Ducati. To secure this history, Petrucci had to battle with six-time World Champion Rea for the second time in two days.

On this battle, ‘Petrux’ said: “I didn’t have the pace in Race 1. I reached Jonny because he did two or three laps that weren’t perfect but, in the end, I was not feeling good with the bike. Today, I smelt the podium and I said, ‘I need to try’. It was good because I passed Gerloff, Loka and Lowes, I said ‘no, Jonny again for the podium… in England, a six-time World Champion and 250 podiums… how can I do it!?’. I immediately found a way and I passed him. I had a really good pace. We made a small modification of the setup but not major things. The confidence is growing.”

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