Danilo Carlo Petrucci is an Italianmotorcycleroad racer. He won the Italian Superstock 1000 Championship in 2011, and who currently competes in the MotoGP World Championship for the Ducati Corse team. A run of nine-straight top six results saw Petrucci begin his factory career in fine style, with a fairy-tale maiden Grand Prix victory coming his way at Mugello, in between two P3s in Le Mans and Barcelona.
Career
Early career
Born in Terni, Petrucci began racing in 1998 with mini-trial and mini-cross bikes, achieving some national trophies. In 2006 he switched to road racing entering the CBR600 Cup where he emerged as the bestrookie. In 2007 Petrucci competed in the Yamaha R6 Cup and made some appearances in the European Superstock 600 Championship. His runner-up position in the R6 Cup granted him official support from Yamaha Motor Italia for the following seasons. In 2008 Petrucci contested his first full international season in the European Superstock 600 championship, scoring two poles and earning seventh place overall in the final championships standings. In 2009 he won three races and earned fourth place overall in the European championship; in the same season he became runner-up in the Italian Superstock 1000 championship and won the Under-23 class. In 2010 Petrucci entered the FIM Superstock 1000 Championship riding for Team Pedercini, while competing also for the Italian Superbike Championship. In the latter championship, he finished in third place overall and won the Under-25 title. In 2011 he again competed in the FIM Superstock 1000 Championship, riding a Ducati 1098R entered by the Barni Racing Team. With four victories and six poles, he ended the season as runner-up behind Davide Giugliano. He also contested the Italian Superstock 1000 championship, winning the championship title.
Petrucci joined the Ioda team in the MotoGP class in 2012, riding a Claiming Rule Teams motorcycle with an in-house Ioda chassis and an Aprilia RSV4 engine. The team switched to using a Suter chassis and BMW engines midway through the season. Petrucci finished 19th overall in the championship and 7th in the CRT class with 27 points.
2013
Ioda continued with Suter/BMW machinery and expanded their MotoGP team to field two bikes in 2013, with Lukáš Pešek as the second rider. Petrucci finished 17th overall in the championship and 5th in the CRT class with 26 points.
2014
Petrucci remained with Ioda for the 2014 season, however the team dropped back to a single entry in the championship and returned to Aprilia machinery. Petrucci suffered a fractured wrist from a crash during the warm-up session for the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. Michel Fabrizio replaced Petrucci for rounds 6 and 7. Petrucci returned for the Dutch TT at Assen. Petrucci eventually finished 20th overall in the championship and 5th in the Open class with 17 points.
2015
On 1 October 2014, it was announced that Petrucci would leave the Ioda team and move to Pramac Racing with a two-year contract, starting with the 2015 season. He replaced Andrea Iannone, who moved to the factoryDucati Team. Petrucci took his first podium finish at the British Grand Prix in August. After starting 18th on the grid, Petrucci moved through the order in wet conditions, and ultimately finished second behind Valentino Rossi.
2016
He missed the first four races after suffering a broken hand in a pre-season testing crash at Phillip Island. Upon return he once again excelled in wet conditions during Dutch TT where he set the fastest lap and briefly led before the race was stopped.
