Petrucci - a double MotoGP race winner for Ducati, who has just finished runner-up in the MotoAmerica Superbike champion🎉ship - has been given the last-minute Suzuki chance due to Joan Mir’s ongoing ankle injuries.

“Probably the nicest man in the paddock is coming back, what are the expectations f𝕴or Danilo Petrucci on the Su༺zuki?” asked Podcast host Harry Benjamin.

“Well, 𓃲if it's absolutely baking hot at Buriram, then he should be well prepared for it having done the Dakar!”꧃ said former Grand Prix rider and British champion Keith Huewen.

“Thailand will be a bit like Motegi, no recent data, and♊ the track grไip will have changed since 2019 due to the extreme weather: The heat, the humidity, the monsoon rain.

“But to jump on a Su🍨zuki, that he has never even tested before, at a place like Buriram, I can’t see he will do any♒thing near the front I’m sorry to say.

“His best bet might be bad weather. If it rains and is consistently wet all the way 𒅌through the weekend, Petrucci might be the man that can make it work.

“But it’s a very tall or𒁏der. It’ll come down to whether he jumꦑps on that bike on Friday and it suits him. If he feels at home on it.

“If that’s the case, Petrucci mi꧂ght finish in the top ♓ten.”

ltxcn.top MotoGP editor Peter McLaren added: “Having spent his Grand Prix career on V4s at Ducati and then KTM, it’ll be interestinꦗg to see how he gets on with the Inline 4 at Suzuki, a corner-speed type of bike.

“But I also think the wea⛄ther will play a big part 🍷in how his weekend goes.

“The b🔴ikes that he’s ridden in the past y𝓡ear alone - jumping from the KTM MotoGP bike to the KTM Dakar bike, winning a stage on that, then going to MotoAmerica on a Ducati Superbike and fighting for the title – show he's got the ability to adapt to different machines quickly.

“So if it all clicks with the Suzuki, if he feels comfortable and confident straight away, on what might well be a low grip track - and we ꦅknow how ꧃well he goes in the rain! So who knows? He's got nothing to lose.

“I think it's great to have Petrucci back. On the oth▨er hand, it’s a real shame for Joan Mir, but the priority has to be his fitness. Maybe Petrucci will also be needed for Phillip Islღand, but let’s hope that Mir can return strongly for Suzuki’s final races in MotoGP.”

Petrucci won’t be the only substitute at Buriram, with HRC test rider T🌼etsuta Nagashima, who crashed out of a MotoGP debut last weekend at Motegi, called up in place of injured countryman Takaaki Nakagami at LC𒁃R Honda.

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