Danilo Petrucci (BMW) on Magny-Cours: “Embarrassing for me and the team”

Two twelfth-place finishes were BMW’s best results at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours – one was secured by Miguel Oliveira on Saturday in the Superpole Race, whilst Danilo Petrucci claimed the other in the second race on Sunday. These results do not do justice to the potential of the riders, the team or the bike.

Yet the ROKiT BMW works team had completed a promising test session on the French circuit, but the insights gained in the extreme heat apparently did not help at all. “We were unable to capitalise on the potential from that test during the race weekend. We now need to analyse how we can do this better,” said Sven Blusch, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport. “The aim is also to regain the momentum we had at the start of the season before our two riders were injured. It’s especially important to stick together as a team in difficult times. Everyone is working hard, and together we’ll get back on track.”

The Italian and the Portuguese rider both complained of the same problems with the M1000RR at the ninth round of the season. “The bike has a narrow window in which it performs optimally. And if you ride outside that range, it’s hard to be fast,” explained Petrucci. “I’m nearly 36; I’ve never worked this hard, either at home or on the track, only to reap nothing but pain and poor results. I’m not blaming anyone, but I simply can’t manage to get the most out of this bike. I’m really sad. The team is trying to help, but it feels as though we’ve lost our way with both riders. Miguel and I keep saying the same thing over and over. I don’t like racing like this: it’s embarrassing for me and for the team.”

“It’s difficult to get the bike to behave consistently throughout the entire race. That’s sort of in its nature,” added Oliveira. “It then becomes increasingly difficult over the course of a weekend to extract the required performance – even from the positive characteristics the bike already possesses. We’re working on it; there’s no other way but to keep pushing. We have lots of approaches, lots of ideas; we’ll continue to work on them behind the scenes.”

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