The first day of track action for Round 5 of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has concluded, with Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) having a remarkable Friday – finishing in second position in FP1 and FP2. The Italian star was 0.222s adrift from Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), who was at the top of the timesheets with all attention now turning to Saturday.

The #9 discussed what he loves so much about Donington Park and what he still needs to improve on for the remainder of the weekend: “It was good as it is always fun to ride at this track, it is one of my favourites, especially in the first sector because it is so flowing and fast and it is a really nice track and exciting.

“There are some areas where I can improve and my biggest problem at the moment is to be fast in the first lap of the race. I need to have a good qualifying tomorrow and the first lap of the race will be key as I am good at managing the tyre I just need a good position tomorrow.”

It was a strong day for Petrucci, who looks competitive but is still recovering after a motocross crash while training in April: “After Misano, I spent two weeks not using my right arm and my right shoulder because the inflammation after the race was huge. The situation is a little bit better than Misano but I am still missing a lot of power which is the thing that scares me the most except for Toprak. It is good to be here and almost on top.”

Returning at Misano, Petrucci took a best finish of sixth in Race 2, finishing ahead of Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) after a heroic ride.

However, the Italian has claimed some strong results previously at Donington Park and is now beginning to dream about fighting for the fairytale podium this weekend: “It is a dream but I really want to step on the podium again, but anyway being inside the top 5 would be good and to be the best independent so I can score some good points again. On the inside, I want to be on the podium but I am not sure how I will last during the race.

“It would be a dream to step on the podium, three months after the accident that I had.”

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