In 2020 Ducati Team’s Danilo Petrucci is one of MotoGP™’s top riders, but there was a time where the Italian nearly gave up on his dream altogether.
Chatting to the MotoGP™ Podcast recently, the 2019 Italian Grand Prix winner admitted he came very close to quitting MotoGP™ in Jerez during the 2014 campaign. His journey from finishing 20th in the Championship that season to now is nothing short of remarkable, and the charismatic Italian revealed all on Last on the Brakes.
“The only time I ever wanted to quit my career, I remember it well - it was in Jerez 2014 and I said this to my mum after qualifying, I started to cry and saying, ‘I’ve had enough of this world, I don’t like riding anymore’”, said Petrucci. “And she told me to give it one more go the next day and do the race. But during the warm up, I crashed and suffered a fracture. During that time off I discovered that I even missed racing like this, even though I was fighting every time to simply not finish last. It was not my dream but I even missed that feeling. I want this year, I want to complete my career - to become better and better like I did every year…
“It was strange that time because I was like someone looking down and thinking about something. It’s really stressful to be a MotoGP™ rider because you don’t get time to ride your bike alone. Every time you ride your bike you’re under the lense. Everyone’s watching you and we have a classification every time,” continued the number 9 rider. “So it’s very easy to say someone’s doing well or not and you have this every day. But It’s my dream. I wanted to feel more satisfied during my lifetime and I’m still not. I won a race but it’s not my dream, I want to win more, and I’m here for this reason. If I didn’t think this then I’ve already quit. I had the chance to maybe change my life or speciality cause I said many times I’m really into going to rally cause it’s so different to MotoGP™.
“You leave in the morning and you see your mechanics again in the evening - you do everything by yourself. But I feel like I’m still not completed in MotoGP™, I want to find my limit still. So when I understood this, maybe when there is no space for me then I’ll change but even this shorter year, I have a good chance to perform and I want to do it 100%.”
Looking ahead to 2021, both Petrucci and teammate Andrea Dovizioso’s futures are up in the air as Ducati Team look set to confirm Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller as one of their riders for next season. The maths is simple, one of Petrucci or Dovizioso will be vacating the factory Ducati seat. No one on the outside yet knows who though as MotoGP™ silly season starts to ramp up, with the Italians two of plenty that are yet to confirm what they’re doing after the 2020 campaign.