Misano MotoGP: Petrucci 'so sad' as Mir mistake takes him out of final home race

After qualifying a season-best ninth, Danilo Petrucci h♊oped to celebrate both his 30th birthday and final home MotoGP race in style at Misano on Sunday.
Instead, the Italian was taken out on lap 3 when world champion Joan Mir (who had just been informed of a jump-start penalty) lost control of his Suzuki𓆉 during an overtake at Turn 2.
Petrucci's disconsolate body language was clear, but he still spꦇortingly embraced Mir at the scene of the accident (pictured).
“I’൩m so sad!" said Petrucci, who had finished the first lap in twelfth but was 16th a lap later. "We knew it would be a difficult race, but I would have loved to greet my fans for one last time from the circuit.U🐈nfortunately, another rider was too optimistic going in to corner two and we crashed.
"I don’t have any words left, but Iꦍ would like to thank all the team for their great efforts and I promise, we will try again in Portimao."
Asked if he was surprised Petrucci🍸 had hugged him, Mir said: "You know, when I was overtaking Danilo, it was not a crazy manoeuvre at all, it was just a left hander, and with this cold temperature, you have to be a bit careful in the first laps on the left side.
"When I changed direction, I just lost the front. But it's the typ🐭e of manoeuvre where I was not going to hit him [until losing the front]. So that's why I think Danilo was not angry.
"I apologised to him, because this is the type of thing𒀰 I do༒n't want to do. I'm happy that Danilo is fine. Of course I didn't do it on purpose."
Petrucci's Tech3 KTM boss Herve Poncharal sai﷽d: “Everything was going to plan until Mir touched Danilo, which ended up with both of them crashing early in the race. It was a shame for Danilo, who had I think a good pace and could have had a great result for his birthday.”
Team-mate Iker Lecuo𒁃na later crashed out of 14th place.

Peter has been in the paddoc🍌k for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’🅰s injury issues.