Facing some difficulties at his home track from day one, Danilo Petrucci tried everything he could to do a decent race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli today. After he had to start from 22nd on the grid, he kept his head down through all the race, did consistent lap times passed a few contenders and moved up until P16 after 27 tough laps.

At the same time, Tech3 KTM Factory Racing’s Iker Lecuona, who came from P20 on the grid, made up four positions already on the first lap. He moved further forward until he reached the points scoring positions at the end of lap 11. Unfortunately, he crashed out in turn four at halfway through the race

Danilo Petrucci

Position: 16^th

Championship: 19^th

Points: 37

"It was a really difficult race. We managed to have a better pace compared to the practice. I didn’t expect to be faster and consistent like this, to be honest. I struggled a lot, but I tried my best to at least score one point. But in the last four laps, I was pretty much done with myself and fought with the bike. I would have liked to score at least one point at home. But the weekend overall was very tough for us. In the end, we finished the race and we have a test coming up, in which we will try to work on our weaknesses."

Iker Lecuona

Position: DNF

Championship: 18^th

Points: 38

"We changed the bike a lot during the weekend. This morning in the Warm Up we tried a different base. For the race, we tried another different base, but somehow nothing was working. In the first ten laps I was in the mid-group of the race, fighting close to the top 10, but I almost crashed in each corner. The weekend was super tricky for me, we have been working hard, but the results never arrived. Finally, I lost the rear in turn four. I’m fine, but it was difficult. We don’t understand why. We will see if we can improve something during the test as we have another race here in Misano."

Hervé Poncharal

Team Manager

"It was a tough race for the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Team. Honestly, we were expecting better. The last round was quite a good one for us, but here we struggled quite a lot more – for whatever reason. We were still quite confident to show a better race pace than what we did on a fast flying lap. But to celebrate something, you have to finish the race.”

“Iker had a great start, some strong maneuvers in the first part of the race like last weekend in Aragón. We were right behind Brad (Binder), which is always a reference point and I think when Iker and Brad are together, this is a fantastic show and this is where we should be. But then we started to drop positions, to make mistakes, to lose time and that ended up in a crash, which is very unfortunate and sad. It was a big shame for Iker, because we know Iker is getting a better and better MotoGP rider, which he is showing every weekend and we would have loved to see him finishing that race.”

“Danilo pushed hard. His pace was really good, steady. He managed to keep the home hero behind, which I know they were fighting for. I think he did a good race. I want to thank him and congratulate him for pushing until the very last lap. Unfortunately, he ended up 16th, which is the first position without any point. But we are pretty happy to see Danilo pushing and trying to do the best he can.”

“Now it’s time to fly to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean and start another adventure in COTA, Texas."