WorldSBK, Petrucci flies in the wet: BMW has already told him something important

Petrucci tops the first day of Superbike testing at Jerez: on a wet track, the BMW gave him a very welcome feeling.

Rain has never been a big problem for Danilo Petrucci, who has often thrived in such conditions throughout his career. Finding a wet track on Wednesday at Jerez didn’t faze him, even if he would have preferred to run in the dry, which he should be able to do today on the second and final day of SBK testing in Andalusia. He was at the top of the day 1 timesheets with his BMW M 1000 RR, with a margin of over 1.2 seconds over Yari Montella and his teammate Miguel Oliveira.

Speaking to the official WorldSBK channels, Petrucci said he was pleased with the sensations at the handlebars of the M 1000 RR: "It wasn’t the best day in terms of weather, but it was positive to do some laps with the new bike: it was the first time in the wet. It was useful. I can say it’s really a good bike on a wet track, I felt good right away and I was always at the top of the times. I’m happy, the feeling was really positive."

Shortly after 1:30 p.m., the ROKiT BMW Motorrad rider had a crash at Turn 13, fortunately without consequences: "It was the first lap with a new set of tires, he explained, maybe the front wasn’t completely ready. There was strong wind and a lot of water on the track, the front tire wasn’t warm enough. Anyway, I’ll keep the good feeling I had, I have to be happy."

After years on the Ducati Panigale V4 R, it’s normal that Petrucci needs to rack up miles on track to better understand and exploit the M 1000 RR: "I need to spend some time adapting, because the bike is different from what I was used to in the past. Anyway, I like it, now we need to ride in the dry. To be the fastest we need to explore the bike in every corner and take care of the necessary details. The adaptation is going quite well, but we need to run in the dry."

The rider from Terni has a top-level team at his disposal, which is no coincidence given they won the last two riders’ titles with Toprak Razgatlioglu. He has technical support that should allow him to be competitive, and the presence of a teammate like Oliveira will be an added boost. Today his hope, like that of his colleagues, is to have a dry track to work better in view of the 2026 Superbike season.