Petrucci doesn't deserve such a bad ending in Superbike: "Sad situation"

BMW not very competitive at Cremona, but Petrux is in serious trouble and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel with his M 1000 RR.

Miguel Oliveira retired after a crash, Danilo Petrucci fourteenth at the finish: it was not a good Superbike Race 1 for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad team. While the Portuguese rider had shown he could run in the top 10, the Italian’s situation is dire. He even finished behind Somkiat Chantra on the Honda and just ahead of Loris Baz’s Ducati, standing in for Tarran Mackenzie at the MGM team.

To think that in 2024, when the Cremona Circuit made its debut on the WorldSBK calendar, it was Petrux who stole the show that weekend: pole position and three dominant wins. With the Barni Spark Ducati it was a whole different story; today with the M 1000 RR he’s living a real nightmare.

The rider from Terni is frustrated with how the SBK round in Lombardy is going, where he’s feeling issues that prevent him from being competitive: "I don’t have a good feeling here at all. I feel the front tire sliding on corner entry,” he told Speedweek, “and because of that I go into the corners very slowly. I have neither grip nor traction. I’m riding at my limit and pushing like crazy. If I push any harder, I can’t make it through the corners. And if I try to ride differently, I’m even slower."

Petrucci is giving 100%, leaving nothing on the table, yet he’s far from his 2024 performances and from what would be his true potential as a rider: "It’s sad. Two years ago here I was leading every session and every race, now it’s the opposite. It’s hard to accept, but I’m giving my all. We keep changing the bike to improve, but I don’t feel any difference when something is changed. It doesn’t get worse, but it doesn’t get better either."

Toprak Razgatlioglu did things on the BMW M 1000 RR that Oliveira and Petrucci can’t replicate. This weekend there’s also a new swingarm on their bikes, but for the Umbrian rider nothing seems to have changed: "I have the feeling we’re not operating within the right working window of the bike. Because if you change something, you should notice the differences; but my lap times and my feelings are always the same. Mentally it’s really terrible, because you can’t figure out which path to take."

It’s already been announced that Danilo will not continue with the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team and that in 2027 his seat will be taken by Brad Binder, but he would like a dignified send-off: "I’m a bit sad, because I’m saying goodbye to the Superbike World Championship in the worst possible way. But I wonder what I could do differently. I really am giving everything."

While waiting to find out whether he will continue his career in MotoAmerica, still with BMW, the hope is to see Petrux back at a good level before the end of the 2026 season. He deserves it.