“We are slow everywhere”: Danilo Petrucci bemoans lack of BMW pace at UK WorldSBK

Despite a test at Donington before the UK WorldSBK, BMW’s Danilo Petrucci is “slow everywhere” after Friday practice at the Midlands circuit.

Petrucci might have been expected to struggle this weekend from a physical standpoint, the Italian having not raced since he crashed in Race 1 at Most almost two months ago.

But he said after WorldSBK FP2 that his physical condition is okay, at least for shorter stints on the bike.

“Physically not bad,” Danilo Petrucci said.

“Struggle a little bit with the right knee, I have a bit of pain, but sincerely nothing. I feel better than the test, nothing that can really be bad. 

“I don’t know, maybe on the race distance, if I have to use more the leg [it could be worse], but at the moment let’s say physically it’s not a big problem.”

The problem for Petrucci, instead of his physical condition, was the performance of the bike.

“We have to mainly work on the bike, or on the setup, to try to understand why we are so slow because the feeling in general is that we are not really bad in one area, but more or less we are slow everywhere – not [by a big amount], but over one lap it’s one second,” he said.

“But there is not a big issue, and maybe this is a bigger problem because there is not a particular area where we have to improve, it’s more or less in general. 

“But, let’s see, it’s only the first day. The crew is working hard and we try to be at least inside the top-10 for tomorrow – it will be the target. 

“For sure, I was expecting to be a little bit better, that’s the point.”

Petrucci said the temperatures he experienced at the test were comparable to those on Friday on the race weekend, but that he was faster at the test.

“I was three or four tenths faster in the test,” he said.

“Not a huge thing, let’s say, but for sure faster. 

“The situation was maybe a little bit better, but for sure not such a big thing, that’s the point.

“The fact is that both me and Miguel [Oliveira] we are saying the same things, this is a good thing.

“But we are saying that we don’t feel any difference when we change setup, and this is not the best thing because there is not such an area where we have to improve, it’s more or less everywhere. Not from a big step, but I think we have to look really deep into every corner.”