Mission Winnow Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci ends the Sepang Test at the top of the timesheets after setting a new lap record around the Sepang International Circuit, a 1:58.239 almost six tenths faster than the previous record set by former Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) at last year’s Sepang Test.
Despite the incredible pace shown, Petrucci knows it doesn’t count for much. But he leaves Malaysia upbeat, especially with how his race simulation went in the soaring heat on Day 2 – conditions the Ducatis struggles with when they raced at the venue in 2018.
“A lot, but it counts for very very few,” said ‘Petrux’ when asked how pleased he was to set a new lap record at Sepang. “I’m happy, especially about yesterday, the race simulation, about how we performed in hot conditions. That, I think, was the main focus we had. This morning I only did one attempt, and it was very very fast, I didn’t believe it, I thought maybe it was wrong.”
Friday saw Ducati debut a new aerodynamic fairing, with teammate Andrea Dovizioso also trying a new chassis. However, a crash on his first run out with said fairing at Turn 5 meant Petrucci couldn’t see whether it had any befits or not.
“We still had three soft tyres in the pits but we decide to work during the day with the used tyre. Then we tried some new things, unfortunately when I tried the new fairing I crashed immediately at the fifth corner and that was a shame. I have some pain in my hands by the blisters, so we decided that our work was done for today and this test. We are happy, both for the pace and for the lap time, even if it counts for nothing much.”
And are is there anything else Ducati have been trying?
“I haven’t tried a new chassis. We tried some new pieces, we found something interesting. I think Andrea already tried the new chassis and it wasn’t a step forward, so they decide to not let me try the new chassis. I don’t know if they will bring something new in Qatar. Unfortunately, I destroyed the fairing after one minute, they haven’t told me the positives or negatives from that so hopefully we can get some more laps in Qatar.”