Fabio di Giannantonio can do little on the track to change his future when he doesn’t have a contract in MotoGP for 2024. This Sunday, he showcased the best argument of all so far with his first victory at the Qatar GP.«

The current Gresini rider was asked if he now approaches the Valencia GP feeling more free mentally, considering he did his best to show he deserves a seat. In response, di Giannantonio denied it:

– For the rest of my life, if I look at Qatar 2023 race in MotoGP, I will always be the winner; I will always be proud of my achievement. But also I’m not free at all, because this is my dream. It’s the dream of our lifes to race in this level, in this championship, with these bikes, and to live with this job. So I’m not free at all because I would love to continue my journey. I will be free once and if I can sign a contract for next year.

For now, the Italian wants to enjoy the victory and maximize the opportunity that the Valencia GP presents: ‘At the moment I just want to be proud of my moment, enjoying the moment and try to make maximum also in Valencia that it’s another opportunity. It could be my last one, or maybe not. So I just want to do the maximum’.

O conteúdo ‘I will be free once and if I can sign a contract for next year’ – Fabio di Giannantonio aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Fabio di Giannantonio emerged victorious at the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix, securing his first win in the premier class at a time when his future in the grid may be in jeopardy. The Gresini rider didn’t let himself be intimidated by the direct duel with the champion and championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), surpassing his rival without showing any signs of being pressured.

The #49 revealed in a press conference that in the past week, there were negative developments about his future that left him particularly determined to win the round at Losail:

– I want to be honest: let’s say that after Malaysia something about my future happened and it wasn’t a good thing. So I arrived at home with a lot of anger, but in a positive way. I’ve said two or three times to my closest friends and family: «In Qatar I’m gonna win». And all the guys were saying: «Fabio, don’t say it, please, because if you say it the energy goes away». And I told: «I say to you now, I’m gonna win». But for sure when you arrive here you have to make all the things well and you have to make it happen. For sure it wasn’t easy, but we made it.

O conteúdo ‘After Malaysia something not good happened about my future’ – Fabio di Giannantonio aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Nearly at the end of his second MotoGP season and without a signed contract for 2024, Fabio di Giannantonio finally secured his first victory in the premier class. The rider defeated the reigning champion, Francesco Bagnaia, in the Qatar GP race, in a duel that lasted until the final laps.

The Italian rider from Gresini spoke about his performance to the official broadcast, as well as the significance of this long-awaited result:

– What to say? It has been an incredible weekend. The race was just unbelieavable. I had some pace. When I was behind Pecco I knew he could have something more. And in the middle, honestly, I was struggling a little bit with the front. But then I saw he was also doing little mistakes, so I thought: «Maybe there is my opportunity». And we did it. I’m speechless. This is a real redemption, let’s say, a real revenge – first for myself and then also for everybody who doubted about me. We did it guys, now we did it! We are MotoGP winners!

O conteúdo ‘This is a redemption, a revenge’ – Fabio di Giannantonio aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Francesco Bagnaia showed today in the Qatar long race why he is world champion and ended up just beaten by Fabio Di Giannantonio. At the end, looking back on his race, the Ducati Lenovo rider was very happy with his strong start, which was decisive in the race, and for managing to escape Jorge Martin in the standings.

Here’s the #1’s parc ferme analysis: ‘I’m very happy. Honestly what I was expecting yesterday was the same as today but we managed to get a perfect start and he was alone at the front and then I tried to push but DiGia was incredible today. I tried to manage the tyres but unfortunately I ended up sucked into his slipstream on the first brake and I was totally wide’.

Bagnaia didn’t forget the gap to Martin, which went from 7 to 21 points: ‘I’m happy with the result, which I expected yesterday, but honestly I’m very happy: we’ve opened up the gap to Jorge a lot, which is going to be very important to get to Valencia’.

O conteúdo ‘We’ve made a perfect start; We’ve created a very big gap to Martin and that’s going to be important’ – Pecco Bagnaia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After nearly two seasons, Fabio di Giannantonio secured his first MotoGP victory this Sunday. In a solid race at the Qatar GP, he showed no fear and didn’t hesitate to challenge the championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia, achieving a well-deserved triumph… even without a contract for 2024.

Bagnaia (Ducati) had a strong start, overtaking Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) to take the lead. Di Giannantonio (Gresini/Ducati) positioned himself in third ahead of his teammate Álex Márquez. Yesterday’s winner, Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), had a poor start, dropping to eighth place.

Positions swapped between Di Giannantonio and Márquez in the second lap, with the Spaniard moving up to the podium. However, this situation didn’t last long as the Italian responded and, after five laps, he was already in second place. Marini lost momentum and dropped to fifth, behind Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM).

Bagnaia was leading dominantly, but his advantage was gradually overturned by Di Giannantonio until it was about two-tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Binder wasn’t far behind. Di Giannantonio’s progress became more significant in the last ten laps.

Determined to achieve his first win, Di Giannantonio completed the pass four laps from the end. Bagnaia made a serious mistake but managed to hold onto second place thanks to the gap he had over Marini, who had returned to the podium spots. Binder was overtaken by Maverick Viñales (Aprilia).

After taking the lead, Di Giannantonio never looked back, securing his first MotoGP victory. Bagnaia maintained second place, with Marini closing the podium in third. Viñales and Binder completed the top five. Martín had a forgettable race, finishing only in tenth place, dealing a strong blow to his title aspirations.

Results:

O conteúdo Masterful: Fabio di Giannantonio beats champion Bagnaia and proves he deserves a seat in 2024 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The good streak of the season continues for Fabio di Giannantonio. Yesterday, he finished second in the Qatar GP Sprint race, just behind the dominant Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati).

The Gresini rider admitted he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the result and his performance after a somewhat problematic start: ‘I’m 98% happy, let’s say, because at the end I did a little mistake on the start and I also had a little issue with the front device that didn’t go off for half a lap. So I was struggling a little bit with the front tyre from the beginning. It was difficult to manage the tyre once I tried to overtake the guys in front. But at the end I knew I had a good pace and I was trying to catch Jorge so hard’.

Di Giannantonio admitted that he didn’t have the means to challenge Martín and that he’ll need to do better at the start of the main race: ‘Once I was behind him with the tyre in these conditions it was difficult to try to be that close and try to overtake. But we know the main thing in MotoGP this season are the pressures and all these things. So I think for the main race we have to improve a bit the start and try to be in front earlier’.

O conteúdo ‘I was struggling with the front tyre from the beginning’ – Fabio di Giannantonio aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Fabio Di Giannantonio is in great form and he showed it again today in the Sprint race in Doha, where only Jorge Martin had a better pace than the Gresini rider.

In his first reaction to his result, DiGia admitted that he tried very hard to do better than second place but the race winner, Martin, was very strong:

– I was trying, I was trying very honestly [to get the win]. It was complicated because Jorge did a great job during the second and third sectors, and I was trying to save some tyre because it was already very hot. But yes, it was an incredible race and I tried to push hard to catch him. It’s a sprint, we got a podium and we’ll try to do it tomorrow as well.

O conteúdo ‘I tried very hard to win but Jorge Martin was very strong; We’ll try to repeat the podium tomorrow’ – Fabio Di Giannantonio aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

World lead, I’m coming for you! There you have it, Jorge Martín won the Sprint race at the Qatar GP and “cut” the lead in the world championship considerably. Fabio Di Giannantonio had no arguments to take the lead and “help” Pecco Bagnaia who ended up in a “disastrous” fifth place.

Everything was in place for the start of the Sprint at Lusail, with a different first grid than usual: Luca Marini took pole position, Fabio Di Giannantonio was second fastest and Álex Márquez third, with the championship leaders – Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín – fourth and fifth respectively, with Johann Zarco closing the second row.

The start went well for Marini, but Martín soon began to gain positions, as did Bagnaia, with both riders side by side. Martín ended up making a mistake and losing positions, before the first (joint) crash of the race involved three riders: Enea Bastianini, Aleix Espargaró and the unlucky Miguel Oliveira.

Start of the race:

Crash:

Martín didn’t want to waste any time and forced his way past Bagnaia, with A. Márquez also passing briefly for the lead, with Marini responding and retaking the lead. Seconds later it was DiGia’s turn to beat Bagnaia.

After three laps Marini was leading by 0.101s over A. Márquez, with Martín in third at 0.296s off the leader. Bagnaia was fifth at 0.895s.

Of the riders who crashed, only Bastianini remained on the track.

Martín moved up to second place and was provisionally gaining four points on the reigning world champion, who remained in fifth.

Di Giannantonio was in good form and reached the top step of the podium after beating his team-mate, who, it should be remembered, still doesn’t have a confirmed place on the grid for 2024.

Halfway through the race, this was the top ten, just moments before Martín took the race lead!

DiGia was in attack mode, with the #49 rising to second shortly afterwards. Even so, the Gresini rider was 0.494s (!) behind Martín. Bagnaia remained fifth, more than 2s behind the leader.

DiGia was one of the fastest and was starting to gain time on Martín, with the latter now leading by 0.219s. The lead increased again, but it remained in the region of 3 tenths of a second and any mistake, no matter how small, could be crucial.

Going into the final lap Martín and DiGia were 0.171s apart.

The race ended shortly afterwards with Martín confirming the victory!

O conteúdo Jorge Martín wins Sprint and “cuts” Bagnaia’s lead in half; Italian was fifth and sees title decision postponed to Valencia aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix pole position was very close for Fabio di Giannantonio. He fell just 67 milliseconds short of Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) in Saturday’s qualifying at Losail.

The Gresini rider said to the official broadcast that he thought he could have secured pole position and, despite it not happening, he emphasized his satisfaction with the performance he’s delivering:

– Honestly I thought that was a pole position lap, because the lap was super good. And then when I stopped I saw a lot of cameras on me, so I said: «Maybe we’ve done it». But Luca was amazing and did a little bit better than us. But I’m super happy about all the weekend until now, about my lap time. It’s a good moment for us, we have to keep work, being focused, and try to do the maximum this afternoon and tomorrow.

O conteúdo ‘I thought that was a pole position lap’ – Fabio di Giannantonio aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Fabio Di Giannantonio, a MotoGP rider, is facing a challenging situation regarding his future in the sport. His prospects have become increasingly uncertain since Luca Marini showed interest in a Honda Repsol ride, which Di Giannantonio had hoped would be his lifeline. This situation has left him in a precarious position, as he finds himself potentially without a seat for the upcoming season.

Di Giannantonio expressed his feelings of frustration and disappointment at the Qatar Grand Prix, where he was awaiting confirmation of his future. He mentioned that two MotoGP seats were still unconfirmed, but he believed they were likely already taken. He requested to be left alone until the end of the weekend, as the ongoing uncertainty and constant surprises were causing him significant stress.

The series of events that led to his current predicament began with Marc Marquez’s departure from Honda, a move that Di Giannantonio described as the first in a domino effect. Following this, his own team, Gresini Ducati, was involved in the second domino, and then the Honda ride he was offered seemed to slip away, with another rider being preferred. This sequence of events, which Di Giannantonio likened to an avalanche started by Marquez, has left him feeling buried and without a place in MotoGP.

 “ it was like a domino effect. Marc Marquez left Honda first, which was the first big surprise as it was the most successful duo in the MotoGP era for eleven years. The second domino fell when it came to my team. Then I was offered the Honda handlebars. But now it looks like another driver will get it. We were close, but then they wanted someone else. It was the third domino  .”

Despite the setbacks, Di Giannantonio believes he deserves to remain a regular rider in MotoGP. He feels that his performance in his second year in the premier class justifies his position, and he views a move back to Moto2 or to the World Superbike Championship as a step backward. At 25 years old, he believes he is at the prime age for a racing driver and can continue to improve in MotoGP.

Fabio Di Giannantonio: “  I don’t deserve this, so I’m upset  ”

“  Subsequently, another opportunity presented itself for me because I have a lot of respect for the VR46 team. But here too, another driver is apparently preferred. This would be the fourth domino. This means that all the places would be occupied . Marc started the story, the snowball then became bigger and bigger, an avalanche which buried my place in MotoGP  ”

Di Giannantonio also considered the possibility of becoming a test rider, which could offer a pathway back into MotoGP, especially if he could replace injured riders and achieve good results. However, he did not specify any particular manufacturer regarding this potential role.

“  I really deserve to remain a regular rider in MotoGP . The situation is strange. Because so much has happened, I don’t deserve this, so I’m upset. This is my second year in MotoGP and I have achieved all the results that could be expected of me . A Moto2 would be a step backwards for me. The World Superbike Championship is also not an option at the moment. I’m 25 years old, I’m in my prime as a racing driver, I can continue to improve in MotoGP  .”

And as a test pilot? “  At the moment it is not a concrete possibility, but I have to build a path that can lead me to return to MotoGP and therefore I am thinking about it because there would be the possibility of replacing riders due to injuries and then to achieve good results. So I’m thinking about it .” 

In summary, Fabio Di Giannantonio is in a difficult position as he navigates the uncertainties of his MotoGP career. His situation highlights the competitive and often unpredictable nature of the sport, where even talented riders can find themselves struggling to secure their place.

O conteúdo ‘I don’t deserve this, so I’m upset’ – Fabio Di Giannantonio aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.