Having lost ground from ไfourth on the grid, Petrucci dived inside Aegerter as ♏the field threaded its way from Turn 1 to 2 at the start of the Superpole contest.

Bu😼t the pair made contact, with the Swiss star falling and wiping out GYT Yamaha team-mate Gardner.

Petrucci was handed a 🌊Long Lap Penalty for the ꦛincident.

“For me [the penalty] was not really the 🦋right decision,” the Barni Ducati♐ rider told WorldSBK.com.

“First of all, I’m sorry about the crash of Domini🌄que and Remy, but I was on the inside and I think a little bit in front beꦐcause I just felt Dominique touch the rear of my bike.

“Normally, especially in the first lap, they [Stewards] don﷽’t give any penalty. But today they didn’t wait even two laps to understand t💃he situation, they gave immediately the Long Lap.

“At least I would have preferred to speak with the Stewards and maybe receive a penalty after the race. Also because with the Lon✅g Lap my race was ruined.”

Aegerter said:꧅ “We actually had a great getaway, but I got hit after just💯 two corners which led me to crash. Unfortunately, Remy was involved too, which is a real shame for the team.”

Wh🙈ile Aege꧑rter re-joined at the back, Gardner tumbled heavily down the track and couldn’t continue.

“We had a good start and I felt good with the SCQ tyre and r꧅eckoned we could have done a good race to gain a better position on the grid. Unfortunately, we didn’t get past turn two and personally I didn’t feel 100% physically after the crash,♍” said the Australian.

Petrucci: 'I thought I’d broken my femur'

But the Superpole drama wasn’t over for Petrucci, who dropped frꦇom sixth to tenth after serving his penalty, then became involved in a race-stopping clash with former MotoGP team-mate Iker Lecuona on laꦫp 7.

“I was behind the two Honda guys, Xavi [Vierge] passed Iker in Turn 8, Iker went a bit wide and I w🦩as there and we touched,” said Petrucci, who clipped the back of Lecuona. “I’m so sorry for Iker but I had no space to go. Unfortunately, we both crashed.”

The race was red-flagged with Lecuona briefly trapped under his bike, and later declared unfit, while Petrucci was also taken to the Medical centre before returning for the fi🗹nal race.

“When I crashed, I thou🌱ght I’d broken my femuജr,” Petrucci explained. “Fortunately I just have a really big hematoma on my right leg.”

“It was really tough to make race [two]. I was in the medical centre just minutes♊ before the start and was not sure. But in the end, I needed to try and I would like to thank all the fans and my team."

Lecuona said: “We had a big crash in the Superpole race and ✅it was not even my fault as I was hit from behind by another rider.

“I had to go to the medical centre and was declared unfit for race two. I’m not feeling great but not too bad e🍃ither. The good thing is that I’ve nothing broken, and this is the most important thing.

“On the other hand, I have this contusion to a muscle in my leg and a few hematomas here and there, so it’s best I don’t walk for two or three✅ days and rest completely. But this is racing in the end.”

Petrucci, who had also crashed while chasing Toprak Razgatlioglu for third place at the same (Turn 8) corner in the Saturday race, went on to claim seventh in the final out🍬ing of t♛he weekend.

“D🧜uring race one, I sincerely thought to go on the podium, even if it’s almost impossible to pass Toprak here. But for sure I would have preferred to finish fourth [than crash],” Petrucci said.

“But we are still not good at braking. ജAnd even braking less than bef♏ore I crashed [in race one]. It’s the first time I’ve crashed going slower into a corner.

“[Sunday] was a ch🐟🅺aotic Superpole race and then I started tenth in race two.

"If you are stuck behind riders two-th🐈ree tenths slower it’s hard to pass. I tried to score as many points as possible and we’ve maybe made a step forward.

“I think we had the potential for one podium [this weekend] but we only left with a seventᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚh... It was a really unlucky weekend."

Petrucci believes next month’s Donington Park round will show if recent upgrades to the Panigale, m♚ost notably a new swi🌟ngarm, were behind his improved speed at Misano.

“I think I w🦂ill have a good answer at Donington Park,” he said. “I don’t know if [our speed at Misano] was ꦡbecause the track was very grippy, or just having more kilometres on this bike.

“The big test for us will𝓰 be Donington Park where we can see if I did a definite step forward and can fight for t෴he top five again, like this weekend.”

Petrucci is currently tenth in the world championship with a best race finish of fifth in his rookie WorldSBK campa♋ign🌜.