Danilo Petrucci admitted he wanted more than the 11th place result he recorded on home soil at the Gran Premio TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.
Petrucci went into the 13th round of the 2016 MotoGP™ World Championship at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli hoping to challenge closer towards the leading group in the race, in front of the Italian fans, on the Duacti.
The Italian rider got away from 15th on the grid with a good start and in the first lap he managed to recover four positions.
Maintaining a good pace early on Petrucci was aiming to chase down the riders in front of him and on lap seven he recorded his best time of the race (1’34.090).
However, from the midway point in the race his pace slowed somewhat and he was unable to fend of an attack by Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) as the Spaniard got in front of him on lap 17. Petrucci did manage to keep Bautista’s pursuant teammate Stefan Bradl at bay and eventually finished in 11th place.
Danilo Petrucci: “It was harder than I expected. In the race we improved a little but not enough. I wanted to do better here, at the home Grand Prix, and I am sorry. Tyres? On Saturday Jorge Lorenzo made the circuit record and in the race those in front were very fast, so, obviously, we did not understand how to exploit them at the best. I took some points and this is a good thing. I would like to thank the team for how they are working. It is good to be with them.”
-My special livery helmet for Misano dedicated to Italy and earthquake victims. #shakedbutunited pic.twitter.com/71V7StYbi9
— Danilo Petrucci (@Petrux9) 9 septembre 2016