MotoGP | GP Austria Qualifying: Petrucci, “I lose everything in acceleration and top speed”

MotoGP 2021 GP Austria Red Bull Ring KTM Tech3 Factory Racing – Danilo Petrucci will start from the seventh row in the Austrian Grand Prix, eleventh stage of the 2021 MotoGP, scheduled for tomorrow at the Red Bull Ring.

The rider from Terni continues to suffer from the lack of acceleration and top speed of his KTM RC16 and braking, which allowed him to recover, worsened when the new rear tire was introduced. Here's what "Petrux" said.

Statements Danilo Petrucci Red Bull Ring Spielberg Qualifying

“When I try to improve braking I make some mistakes and that's exactly what happened today. I was happy with my feeling in FP4, the pace was quite good, but when I try to recover a bit with the new tires we lose on the straight and I make mistakes, because I can't stop the bike as I would like. I didn't expect much, but I'm definitely not happy with my lap time in qualifying. Regarding our race pace, I still think we can maintain our goal of taking home some points tomorrow.”

Statements Danilo Petrucci comparison with KTM Zarco problems Red Bull Ring Spielberg Qualifying

“I don't know exactly the problems Johann (Zarco) had at KTM, but he used to ride a Yamaha which uses an inline-4 engine architecture, different from the KTM V4. I don't really know where he suffered, as far as I'm concerned I suffer a lot at speeds above 200 km/h; It seems like a lot, but in reality we reach them in second gear and I start to lose a lot of speed. Especially on this track where there are straights followed by very tight corners and even the last corner is quite slow. From turn 4 to 10 I am in line with the other KTM riders, in fact in FP4 the third sector I was very fast.”

Danilo Petrucci statements on riders great physique and possible minimum weight of bike plus rider Red Bull Ring Spielberg Qualifying

“Unfortunately, in the MotoGP class, unlike the Moto3 and Moto2 classes, there is no minimum weight for the bike plus rider. This is a pretty big disadvantage for someone with a physique like mine. I have to accelerate and brake many kilos and this can be felt. The story of the minimum weight of the bike plus rider has been going on for many years, but the manufacturers have never wanted to accept it because generally the riders are small and they would have to increase the weight of the bikes making them unbalanced. The problem is that many come from Moto3 and Moto2 and are small, especially in recent years. I, however, arrived directly in MotoGP. There was a period, especially from 2017 to 2019, in which I was able to overcome this problem on certain tracks thanks to braking. Then when the rear tire was changed last year it became more difficult. I don't know if the problem could also exist in Superbike. The last time I rode a production derivative was in 2011, I was a test rider for Ducati and developed the Panigale. I don't know how much they have changed today compared to then.”