MotoGP racer Danilo Petrucci will race in MotoAmerica this season

There are many signs indicating the health of a national racing series, two if which are (1) its top riders are invited to race in international series, and (2) international riders want to come race in that country’s national series. MotoAmerica has made incredible strides in both of these, with the likes of Garrett Gerloff, Cameron Beaubier, Sean Dylan Kelly, among others making the leap to the world stage in World SBK and MotoGP, and Toni Elias, Loris Baz, and now Danilo Petrucci joining the MotoAmerica paddock. American motorcycle road racing is alive and well again.

This latest news of Petrucci coming stateside is noteworthy, as Danilo will be joining the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York team in MotoAmerica’s Superbike Championship. Petrucci is quite familiar with Ducati race bikes, having grown up around them in his native Italy. He raced for the Pramac Racing then Ducati Factory racing teams from 2015-2020, always a top contender in the world, even snagging victories in 2019 and 2020 at the French and Italian Grand Prix weekends.

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Danilo Petrucci in deep lean on his Ducati Factory Racing bike, during the Sepang round of the 2020 MotoGP series. Photo by MotoGP.

At 31 years old, Petrucci is a veteran of superbike racing. After platooning three years in the European Superstock 600 Championship from 2007-2009, He raced two years in the Superstock 1000 Cup, a feeder series for the European rounds of WorldSBK. Danilo then accepted the invitation to race IodaRacing Project Aprilias in MotoGP from 2012-2014 before jumping on Ducatis with the Pramac and Ducati teams. He raced 2021 for Tech3 KTM Factory in 2021, then undertook a completely different challenge- Danilo raced in the January 2022 Dakar Rally one month after suffering a broken leg in training, even winning the Stage Five segment for his Red Bull Factory KTM Rally Team.

Petrucci is a fierce and formidable racer, and now he’s coming to America. In a press release announcing his joining the MotoAmerica paddock, Petrucci declared, “I’m so happy that I am coming back to race with Ducati, and I would like to give a special thank you to all the Ducati people who made this project possible. I spoke about this project with Eraldo Ferracci (Advisor, Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York) at Circuit of The Americas last year and all the management starting with Claudio Domenicali, Gigi Dall’Igna, Paolo Ciabatti and Davide Tardozzi, and they were really happy to have me on board again. I want to continue to have fun and to keep riding my bike, so I have chosen this project to make a new experience on the human side. I will live in America. This is something new and exciting for me, so I am very curious and eager to start.”

Petrucci kicking up sand during the 2022 Dakar Rally Raid. Photo by Red Bull Factory KTM Rally Team.

MotoAmerica president Wayne Rainey commented enthusiastically about Petrucci’s move to the American racing series. “We’re really excited to see Danilo join the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York team for 2022,” Rainey said. “Danilo’s a world-class rider and very well-liked and respected, having had great success in MotoGP. Coming to MotoAmerica, Danilo will find some extremely competitive racing around some iconic racetracks, and I think he will really enjoy the culture of living in the United States and seeing this beautiful country.”

Petrucci’s return to the Ducati family will see the 31-year-old Italian make his Superbike debut on the Ducati Panigale V4 SBK machine built to factory spec by Ducati Corse in Italy. Danilo has long been a popular rider in the MotoGP circuit, both on track and around the paddock, and race fans here Stateside are already looking forward to meeting him at races and observing how he fares against America’s best racers on our premier tracks. He will live close to the Warhorse HSBK Racing headquarters in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, and with the official addition of the Daytona 200 to the MotoAm schedule March 10-12, rider and team have their work hurriedly cut out for them. But if Danilo’s stellar career is any indication, he will be ready and he will be in hot contention this year as the race series criss-crosses the country. We certainly look forward to seeing what the enthusiastic Italian will bring to the premier American motorcycle road racing series.

For more info on the MotoAmerica series and race round tickets, click here:

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