Danilo Petrucci “feeling quite bad” after Hungarian WorldSBK Race 1 crash: “I’ve been hit”

Danilo Petrucci says his shoulder feels “quite bad” after being caught up in the Hungarian WorldSBK Race 1 crash at the second turn.

Petrucci took the restart in World Superbike Race 1 in Hungary after the red flag was thrown following the incident and finished fifth, but the Italian said afterwards that he was in pain, and that he found it “unacceptable” that Andrea Iannone – who was given a double long lap penalty for irresponsible riding – was able to take the restart.

“I’m feeling quite bad because of my shoulder,” Danilo Petrucci told WorldSBK.com after Race 1 at Balaton Park.

“Sincerely, I received a big hit from my back, from Iannone, causing this crash.

“For me, it’s not acceptable that a rider causing a crash could restart.

“Anyway, we scored some points even if we lost a few points to from our challengers in the fight for third in the championship.

“I’m happy, even if now I start to feel a bit of pain in my shoulder and my leg; I’ve been completely hit from the back and my shoulder was under my bike.

“Anyway, I would like to say thanks to my team that was great rebuilding my bike.

“I’m happy even if I’m really disappointed because it was damage limitation but we missed an opportunity to stand on the podium again.”

Petrucci started last for the restarted race because his Barni team could not prepare his bike to be ready in time for him to get out of pit lane before it closed during the quick restart procedure.

“I had my left arm under my bike and I couldn’t move when I was lay down,” Petrucci said.

“When I was up I saw the red flag so I tried to pick up my bike. I had no front brake so I came back into the pit with no front brake and my team did really a good job, but we missed the pit lane [closure] by just five seconds and I had to start last.

“I said ‘Okay, I will try to score as many points as possible’.

“I was so close to the podium in a moment, but then, in the second part of the race, I [had] spent all the energy of my rear tyre in the first part of the race and I had no pace.

“But, at the end, it was good to score some points.”

Although clearly disappointed and in pain after the race, Petrucci was able to reflect positively on his ride through the field.

“It was good,” he said. “At the beginning I had really a good pace.

“Then, in the second half of the race I came really close to the podium but I felt [the] front and rear tyres both in trouble, so I said ‘Okay, now you did great work, don’t waste everything and try to stay up.’

“I saw [Alex Lowes] was more or less the same pace, so I tried to stay there and try to overtake him in some areas but he was really similar pace.

“At the beginning it was fun, even if I knew that I couldn’t fight for the podium – even if, in a moment, I said ‘Maybe I can go there’. Anyway, it’s a good fifth place.”