Danilo Petrucci: “It’s very difficult to find rear traction” at Italian WorldSBK

In comparison to 2024’s September date, WorldSBK’s 2025 stop at Cremona Circuit is in the beginning of May, and the much hotter temperatures compared to 2024 already made an impact on Friday with several crashes, including one for Danilo Petrucci.

The Italian, who won all three races at the northern Italian venue last year, crashed in the morning session, but by the end of the day, when he was third in the combined times thanks to his best lap in FP1, his main concern was over rear traction rather than his crash.

“It's a very important race and there are a lot of expectations after winning here last year,” said Petrucci after FP2 in Cremona, when track temperatures were recorded at 49C – 19C more than in Race 1 last year and 14C more than in Race 2.

“I’m quite happy today despite a small crash this morning. There was no warning for the crash but the weather is very different compared to last year.

“It’s really hot now and there have been a lot of crashes already. It’ll be difficult to stay out of trouble because it's very difficult to find rear traction.”

Petrucci said that, despite his World Superbike success at Cremona in 2024, he’s “not thinking about winning” yet in this year’s edition.

“I’m quite calm and I’m not thinking about winning or anything like that,” he said.

“I just want to go into Superpole and try to be on the first or second row. Then we'll play my cards in the race.

“There’s a lot of pressure on me but I’m surprising myself. I don’t want to make any mistakes tomorrow and if I can finish inside the top five, or get on the podium, that would be a great result.”