Petrucci managed to ‘save’ a poor weekend by finishing s🐈ixth in Race 2, however, Portimao was the second consecutive weekend where the Italian’s pace was better than the results he ulti🐼mately achieved. 

The Barni Ducati rider was one of the fastest riders in Aragon but could only managed one top fi🐟ve finish after a mistake in qღualifying.

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And in Portimao it was a similar story for the former MotoGP rider, ဣas front tyre woes in Race 1 and a ‘disastrous’ Superpole Race made it difficult to recover.

Asked if the weꦏekend was a disast😼er given his recent form, Petrucci told WorldSBK.com: “Yeah, exactly [it was]. Sixth place saves the bad weekend but I’m disappointed because we found so many difficulties on Saturday. 

“My front tyre was not good and I lost many, many places. We didn’t understand why until this mornꦬing but in the warm-up I was fast again so we didn’t unders🍌tand this. 

“Then we were forced to use the X tyre, let’s say. With my weight the X doesn’t last long and for me the Superpole Race was a disaster. ꩲ;

“In Race 2 I was able to recover some positions but for sure, I’m stillᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ thinking about the weekend I threw away in Aragon where I was really fast. 

“Th♉is weekend I expected to fight for the top five like I did in Race 2 but we were a bit unlucky. We still need to find our best set-up with the X tyre.”

Petrucci has struggled more than most when it comes to e🌃xtracting the most from the♎ qualifying tyre in 2023.

His race pace has❀ been brilliant, but being out of position has cost him som♐e big results which is why it’s something he admits must be addressed next season.

“We need to work on this because every time we use the X tyre this year I can’t improve my꧟ lap time,” added Petrucci. “Other riders can do that so it’s my problem. I still need to understand how to do that.”