MotoGP Le Mans: Luca Marini: Danilo Petrucci’s size not a disadvantage here

Luca Marini, one of the tallest riders on the 2023 grid, thinks Danilo Petrucci’s size will be less of a disadvantage than normal on his MotoGP comeback at Le Mans this weekend.
Danilo Petrucci, French MotoGP, 11 May
Danilo Petrucci, French MotoGP, 11 May

At 1.81m tall and༒ around 80kg, Petrucci of෴ten felt he was stressing the tyres more than smaller rivals during his full-time MotoGP career, in addition to suffering in terms of acceleration, top speed and fuel consumption.

Fellow Italian🐓 Marini has faced similar issues, albeit to a lesser𓆏 extent, being 1.84m tall but weighing only 68kg.

Pet🌃rucci is making a one-off MotoGP comeback in place of Enea Bastianini, riding for the same facto▨ry Ducati team with which he won the wet 2020 Le Mans round.

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“Difficult to say now [how it will go for Petrucci],” said Marini. “But sure he's fit be🎉cause he's competing in the Superbike and here in Le Mans he was strong in the past. For many years he was fighting for the top positions.

"I thi⛎nk the Ducati is also the best bike for him to come back on. He knows it very well.

“It’s also a 🅘good track, in my opinion, for his weight because he can put the temperature in the tyre very soon, and this is not a disadvantage as in all the other circuits of the season apart from Phillip Island.

“Because when you are heavy it’s every time a disadvantage. But maybe here, where the temperature is 😼so cold, also for wet tyres, he can feel well and warm up the tyres. So it's not maybe a problem for him.

“I expect in the mixed conditions to see him quite fast, but the level now is very higꦜh, so it will be very interesting [to see how he gets on].”

Luca Marini, MotoGP, Spanish MotoGP, 28 April
Luca Marini, MotoGP, Spanish MotoGP, 28 April

The🌠 VR46 Ducati rider, who took his first MotoGP podium in the wet Argentina race earlier this sea🔯son, added:

“In my opinion, [being🍸 bigger] is never an advanta🍒ge, but there is less disadvantage here, in this particular case, because the temperature of the tyres is very important.

“I𝓡 remember when we did the flag-to-flag race [here] in 2021. When we went from slicks and jumped onto the wet tyres. It wa✅s for me really difficult to understand how the tyres worked in the first 2-3 laps.

“I lost a lot of time there because I didn't have experience and you need to push a lot at the beginning, because then when there is temperature, the grip is very good. But this track, with this cold weather, is difficultꦏ.”

Marini starts this weekend holding sixth in the worꦏld championship but, like Jor♚ge Martin, is equal on points with fifth place Maverick Vinales (Aprilia).

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