Having lost his Tech3 KTM ride in MotoGP at the end of 2021, bringing to an end a 10-year stint in the premier class of grand prix racing that yielded two wins, Petrucci made a radical career shift to rallying and a maiden Dakar campaign with the Austrian manufacturer.
Despite numerous injury woes and an early technical issue, Petrucci stunned when he took victory in the fifth stage of the Dakar earlier this month – profiting from a six-minute penalty for Toby Price.
Petrucci had planned to compete in the rest of the FIM’s rally raid championship – of which the Dakar was the opening round – but is now set for a switch to MotoAmerica with Ducati as both himself and KTM “didn’t really understand each other”.
“My plan was to do this Dakar and then to do all the rally raid championship,” he told Autosport in an exclusive interview.
“But already before the Dakar we had some issues with KTM, we did not really understand each other.
“For maybe the first time I think in my career I…
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