From Dakar to MotoAmerica: Petrucci is Ripping Up Tracks in the US!

[advrider]

Danilo Petrucci, the racingest man on two wheels, is on his second career revival of 2022, and he is nailing it. He’s now the fastest motorcycle roadracer in the US, after side-stepping into rally raid this past winter.

Roadracing fans will of course remember Petrucci for his respectable MotoGP career, which came to an end in 2021 when the Italian vet finished the season without a contract renewal (he’d been with Tech3 KTM). It wasn’t that he wasn’t a great racer—as Petrucci put it, he was just simply too large a man to be successful in today’s MotoGP world, which has been dominated by shortish-of-stature Spaniards for the past decade. Petrucci was taller, and that meant he was slower, and nothing could solve that problem.

Photo: KTM

However, KTM liked Petrucci, and even though it didn’t have a spot on its factory team for him, Mattighofen wanted to keep him around, so Petrucci (somewhat surprisingly) ended up with a Dakar ride. That went surprisingly well, with the rookie ending up on the Stage 4 podium, and generally acquitting himself well.

So, what to do after Dakar? Challenge the FIM rally raid circuit? Nope, Petrucci went back to roadracing, signing with MotoAmerica’s Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati NYC. How is that going, you ask? He’s won three of four races this year, taking both rounds of the COTA double-header and winning the first race at Road Atlanta (a mechanical DNF ruled him out of the second race).

What’s next? It’s hard to imagine Petrucci won’t be up for another Dakar challenge this winter, although we haven’t heard anything confirmed yet. Or maybe he’ll try something else—after all, his background is enduro racing. Is the Erzbergrodeo next?

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