“I got the call before the race on Sunday in Alabama, when I was still fighting for the [MotoAmerica] title!” explai𓃲ned Petrucci, after arriving in the Buriram paddock on Thursday. “So I said: ‘Let me think about it!’”

But he couldn’t think about it for long.

Shortly after finishing second in the Superbike standings to Jake Gagn🐠e, Petrucci had to decide if he would jump on the GSX-RR in place of the injured Joan Mir this weekend.

“After the race, I went back to the tent at 6pm and m🏅y manager said: ‘We have to decide now because there is no time go to Thailand from the USA’.

“I said: ‘OK, we will go’.

“From this 🅷moment on it was like putting myself into a washing machine!

“I was with my brother in the USA and he was supposed to go on holiday toꦇ New York. So I said: ‘No, you go back to Italy because you have to wait for Suzuki [leathers]!’ He is coming to Thailand now, so I owe a holiday to my brother and his girlfriend!

“I left the hotel at 6am in Alabama on Monday and I just arrived⛦ here. I flew across the pacific, so I did a complete lap of the world, starting from Italy!

“I simply can’t explain how emotionalꦯ I am. Not even an Alfred Hitchcock story could see me race in the Dakar with KTM, then go to the USA with Ducati, and now here [in MotoGP] with Suzuki. Nobody has ever done😼 this! I’m so happy.

“This is one of the biggest gifts I have ever received in my life. All these manufacturers, from KTM༒, to Ducati, to Suzuki have been so kind with me. I’m so happy that I have a good relationship with all these people in the paddock. Apart from the sporting achievements, it’s the best thing I ever achieved.

“really happy to shake hands with everyone as I was crossing thꦺe paddock today. It's something that makes me proud.

“I couldn’t say no to th🦄is offer. I mean, I would have swum the Pacific t𓂃o ride this bike!”

Petrucci: I hope it will rain forever!

Buriram has be♉en drenched for several days by the tropical storm Noru and current forecasts predict more rain over each day of the race weekend.

“I hope it will rain forever – or at least until Sunday at 4pm!” smiled Pet𝄹rucci, who took the second of his MotoGP race wins for Ducati in the wet at Le Mans 2020.

“I’m retired now and the race in Thailand was tough [with the heat] when I was fully fit. Now I’m an old man it willꦕ be even tougher! So I sincerely hope the [wet] w🌱eather will help me a bit.

“At least it will make the race less physꦿical and also because [in the rain] everything [on the bike] is more soft, more easy.

“I just want to ♐enjoy and finish the race. I think it’s so difficult💜 to finish in a position that is not last place, but we’ll see.

“Maybe the bike is so, so good that I will immediately find the way [to r💟ide it] and can stay at least closer to the other guys.

“I just want to push at my 🍸best. I don’t care about the results - even if I w♎ant to go fast as always.

“I said the same when I went to the Dakar and was not expecting to win a stage. So my plan was 🌺just to 🥀enjoy and his week the target is the same.

“For sure it will be t🎉ough, also because the guys are at the end of the championship and are so [used] to th🌜eir bikes.”

Petrucci: Thumb brake position is a ride-height device

Having not ridden a MotoGP bike since last November’s Valencia finale for Tech3 KTM, and ye🐈t 💛to even sit on a GSX-RR, Petrucci has plenty to learn.

“I haven’t had a chance to sit on the bike yet, but they showed me t🍸he [controls] and all the devices are 𒆙in different positions [to my previous bikes] and we cannot make modifications,” Petrucci said.

“I have a thumb brake usually and here the thumb brake is to activate the ride-height device, so it’s quite dangerous if I push that b🦩utton inside the corn🏅er like I would with the thumb brake!

“So I’ll have to fix my thumb [out of the wꦑay൩ of the ride-height device switch] and not touch it!”

The 31-year-old added: “I think [I’ll need to adapt my riding style] be🌟cause I’ve always ridden with V4 engines [in MotoGP] and this is in Inline 4, I only rode an Inline 4 in 2013 with Ioda and the Suter BMW. But it was another era.

“The bike, everything, the position, is so different. We just had a look on some data but everything is so different at the moment. I need firsꦐt to try the bike and understand, also because usually with my size I always need something different in the set-up and so on.

“So we first have 🎐to ride the bike and understand everything.

“But 𝓰I’m just happy to be here and tomorrow we will try to understand how hard it will be.”

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Rins welcomes fifth team-mate of the year!

Suzuki regular Alex Rins said he is looking forward to hearing Petrucci's comments on the GSX-RR, given his past expe🔯rience on the Ducati and KTM.

"We have a new team-mate, the fifth this year," smiled Rins. "I'm happy Petrux is back, he's a good guy, the relationship wit🦩h him is so nice, so let's see if I can learn something from him, because for sure he's a very good rider, and he has a lot of experience in the championship. So let's see if I can learn൲ something.

"We haven't talked about the bike too much, but I'm happy that another rider is trying the bike, to see where is the limit of the bi🌺ke, 🔜what he thinks about the bike. It will be nice.

"It&🌃nbsp;would be better in dry conditions to feel the bike more. He can push moౠre and find the limit more in dry conditions. But OK, it's wet."

Crutchlow: Danilo will be fine

Like Petrucci, Cal Crutchlow has made a late en𒅌try into the 2022 MotoGP season - in place of Andrea Dovizioso at RNF - albeit on a bike he had been testing.

"He’ll be fin🔜e. Danilo is experienced. He has won two grands prix and has probably ridden the most out of everybody in the paddock!" Crut♔chlow said.

"If it’s a wet weekend it may be easier for him to come in and take his ꦯtime. Because in the dry, honestly - the speed they are going! In Aragon and also Motegi, they [were gaining] two seconds in a [dry] time attack. It’s those balls-out laps that are difficult.

"But if Danilo gets into a rhythm, I’m sure his pace will be fine. And if it’s wet♉ he may be able to take advantage🗹."