Danilo Petrucci Says BMW Is Slow in Every Area

Danilo Petrucci says BMW’s main problem at the UK WorldSBK round is not his physical condition, but a lack of pace across almost every section of Donington Park.

Petrucci finished only 17th in FP2 on Friday. The result was below his expectations, particularly because BMW had completed a test at the same circuit before the race weekend.

The Italian admitted he still felt some pain in his right knee after being absent since his Race 1 crash at Most almost two months earlier. However, he said the injury was not yet creating a major limitation during shorter runs.

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“Physically, it is not bad. I struggle a little with the right knee and have some pain, but overall I feel better than I did at the test,” Petrucci said.

Petrucci explained that the BMW did not have one major weakness that could be easily isolated. Instead, the motorcycle was losing small amounts of time in several areas, which accumulated to approximately one second over a full lap.

“We are not really bad in one area, but more or less we are slow everywhere. It is not by a big amount, but over one lap it becomes one second,” he said.

A comparison with the pre-event test also showed that Petrucci was around three to four tenths slower despite similar temperatures. He and team-mate Miguel Oliveira provided the same feedback that set-up changes were producing little noticeable difference in the motorcycle’s behaviour.

That situation makes the search for improvement more complicated because the crew must analyse every corner rather than concentrate on one specific weakness. Petrucci’s target for Saturday is to place the BMW inside the top 10 before the grid-deciding sessions.