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.

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.

Marc Marquez and Gresini Racing will form one of the teams that will surely attract the most attention in 2024, and Gigi Dall’Igna is enthusiastic about Nadia Padovani’s team, crediting the italian structure with managing the dossier that culminated in the spaniard signing coming from Honda.

The General Manager of Ducati Corse spoke about the process that led to the former world champion’s move to the team where his brother Alex rides at, in words to motorcyclenews.com, heaping praise on the spaniard’s future team: ‘All credit goes to Gresini, they hired him, not Ducati. It wasn’t long ago that talks began, and I want to reiterate one thing: it wasn’t my idea, it’s something different. It was a team that decided to do a deal with a rider. Once the matter has been cleared up, of course I’m very happy to see very fast riders on my bikes’.

With the motorcycling world very curious to see how the #93 will perform on the Desmosedici – be it the 23 or 24 version – Dall’Igna believes there will be plenty of suspense: ‘Next year we’re going to see some good fights, it’s not going to be a boring World Championship. Marquez is a rider who has won a lot. He’s one of the most important riders in history and I don’t think anyone can say anything about that’.

He concluded, not hiding his happiness at having such competent riders in the team line-up: ‘I have strong riders at Ducati who are doing marvellous things, who are setting records in every race. I’m happy with the riders I have’.

O conteúdo ‘Gresini signed Marquez, not Ducati; 2024 won’t be a boring world championp’ – Gigi Dall’Igna aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Filip Salac led the Q1 of the Moto2 Thai GP. His first timed lap in the Q2 in Buriram was never beaten, securing a spot in Q2, along with Tony Arbolino, Sam Lowes, and Izan Guevara.

Manuel González (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team/Kalex) led among those who completed their first flying laps. With ten minutes remaining, only five riders had completed their laps, but more quickly joined in.

Salac (QJMotor Gresini/Kalex) and Lowes (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex) overtook González, and Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS/Kalex) also secured a qualifying position, initially in fourth and later in second place.

González dropped out of the top four when he was overtaken by Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia/Kalex with less than eight minutes to go. The Japanese rider was later passed by Guevara (Inde GasGas Aspar/Kalex). There were no further changes in the qualifying positions, so Salac, Arbolino, Lowes, and Guevara advanced to Q2. Ogura missed out by just 0.040s with the fifth-fastest time.

Results:

O conteúdo Filip Salac dominated the Q1 of the Moto2 Thai GP; Tony Arbolino also gets into the Q2 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Marc Márquez will ride for free in 2024, and yes, you read it right. The confirmation was given by Paolo Ciabatti who address for the first time about the rider’s future aboard a Desmosedici next season with Gresini Racing colors.

The Sporting Director of Ducati Corse spoke about the decision of Marc to make a season towards next season, even ending a very profitable contract he had with Honda, as told to Moto.it at the podcast «A tutto gas», confessing he didn’t thought that the spaniard wouldn’t be allowed to release his contract with Honda: ‘Even I didn’t think Marquez would be let go by Honda. Then he agreed with Team Gresini, I think after talking for long with his brother Álex [Márquez]. For us it is a great source of pride that Marc has agreed to race with practically zero parameters’.

Ciabatti then said that the #93 considers the italian bike to be the best and… that it will be hard to manage such a big name, who can somehow add extra «pressure» to the factory riders: ‘Besides, he considers Ducati to be the best bike. It is clear that he is a bad customer at home for our riders, it is an extra complexity to manage. But his presence can make the factory riders grow even more’.

Furthermore, the italian Director spoke of the rider’s salary and said… he will ride for free, and that is a reason to be proud about, adding that he won’t be even considered to take part on the factory team on 2025

– That a rider like Marc Márquez decides to race for free, in a satellite team with one of our bikes is a source of pride. I can tell you that Marc Marquez is not a target for Official Ducati in 2025, but as the factory riders are under contract in 2025, minus Brad Binder, it could be a possibility.

It is important to recall that Márquez had a yearly salary of 12,5 million euros with Honda, with some sources to say that this could go up until 24,4 million in case of the rider got to rode in all races, which didn’t happen as he already missed a few.

O conteúdo From more than 12 million euros to zero: Marc Márquez will ride for free with Gresini in 2024 according to Ciabatti aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

In this particular case, Livio Suppo spoke about different topics, both current and from the past, when Valentino Rossi was still racing. Italians are always more inclined to talk about their compatriots on the track, but this was also specifically the case with Marc Márquez’s move to Ducati. It will certainly be interesting to see Marc Márquez in the seat currently occupied by Fabio Di Giannantonio at Gresini.

Dall’Igna and his work at Ducati with Márquez: “Marc Márquez’s telemetry at Ducati I don’t think interests Dall’Igna very much, as he’s more interested in the other Ducati riders, to see where he’s stronger than them.

Diggia’s performance. ‘Fabio Di Giannantonio seems to have finally adapted to the category, but his situation is particular, it reminds me of Alex Barros, who when his seat was in danger for next year it was when he went fast. Magically, they complain less and go faster. I don’t know if ‘Diggia’ has really made the leap or if it’s the fear of losing his seat that’s blocking him’.

A complicated year for Enea, with more injuries than on-track activity. ‘In my opinion, at this point, Enea isn’t just suffering from the injuries he’s had, but he’s suffering from something else which I don’t know if it’s the change of technical director more than a 23-year-old bike. It’s going well with everyone but him. So, even here, it’s hard to think that the 23-year-old bike is stranger or more difficult or whatever than the 22-year-old bike that he hasn’t been riding, because the other year he was riding the 21-year-old bike. It’s certainly been a very difficult year. When things start to go wrong, it’s hard to get out, just like when they start to go right. You get stronger and stronger, but when things start to go wrong it’s harder and harder to get out. That’s all’.

‘The people who always want to see conspiracy are the ones who say Valentino only won because of the tire.

‘What became super negative after 2015 was something that allowed Capirossi, right here at Phillip Island, to win his first world championship. I mean, Italian riders helped Loris win his first world championship and nobody believed the scandal. It was as if there was a guy who could win the world championship and the other Italian drivers helped him if they could’.

Zarco’s win in Australia: ‘It always existed and I imagine that Zarco, who won this race, maybe next time, if he was in a position to protect him here, he couldn’t protect him, I mean, here if he didn’t pass him the others would pass him anyway, so it was good that he tried to win because he took five points off Pecco. Maybe there are other situations where I can help him, because I imagine that would make sense too. I used to put in the drivers’ contracts when I was working that the drivers are at the same level, they have the same support, but if at the end of the championship one of them is mathematically out of the fight for the title, the team can ask him for help, which also makes sense to me’.

Clearing up doubts. “‘ Those who always want to see conspiracy are the ones who say that Valentino only won because of the tire. They’re the ones who say that Valentino gave him a tire in Valencia to crash. You hear a lot of stupid things. The world is full of idiots. If the world were more intelligent, there wouldn’t be the wars there are now?

O conteúdo Livio Suppo – ‘Márquez’s telemetry is not important for Dall’Igna, but it is for the rest of the Ducati riders’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After saying he even came to have some doubts regarding his future, Marc Marquez went further and said that he actually thought of taking a «gap» year. It won’t happen that, as the rider will terminate his contract and have a new, refreshing adventure… with Ducati, using the colors of Gresini Racing.

‘Taking a year off was one of the possibilities, because competing without enjoying it makes no sense to me. I have done a lot of things in the past, but what I want to do is fight in the present’, the iconic and eight time world champion said in Indonesia.

Marquez told then what is his current goal, to fight and enjoy, while still saying he had other options on the table but it was Gresini Racing the one who was decided to wait for him the more: ‘Regardless of whether you have eight or one championship on your record, you have to fight in the present. That was the goal. I had different options. I’m not going to reveal them, because I respect all these teams. But the ones that waited for me were the Gresini team. They took a gamble, so to speak, because I didn’t promise them anything tangible’.

O conteúdo ‘Taking a year off was a possibility; I had different options but Gresini waited for me’ – Marc Marquez aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After the confirmation that everybody was expecting, Marc Marquez will be with Gresini Racing in 2024 but didn’t forget to say that this was a very difficult decision to take, but it was a necessary change looking to what he was feeling in the past years and even came to say that he wasn’t enjoying racing, which if it was to continue, he would even think about continuing to race.

The #93 explained in Mandalika that is was super complicated to take this step: ‘Yes, of course it was a very difficult decision, the most difficult of my career because I broke off an 11 year relationship with Honda, a very fruitful relationship. But it was super difficult, and yes, last week was difficult from an emotional point of view, because you know that all my stuff, my friends or my family are inside this box, all the sponsors’.

He then revelead what led him to take such decision: ‘But sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and my comfort zone was Honda. But it’s true that for a long time, especially over the last four years, I’ve been suffering a lot, not enjoying myself, and I’ve made a change to enjoy myself on the track again. Because if that’s not the case, there’s no point in me continuing to race, continuing my career, and what I want is more years in my career’.

Marquez got then to say why he decided to continue his career with Gresini: ‘The first objective is to try and enjoy myself and that’s why I chose the Gresini team, because it’s a big family, they have the best bike currently on the grid, and my brother is there. So yes, it will be a big challenge for me, a big challenge for the Gresini team, but they have already achieved very good results with Alex, my brother, and with Enea Bastianini in the past. But that’s what I’m saying: it’s going to be a big change in every aspect, and what I want to do is enjoy it, smile under the helmet, and if I smile, everything will come afterwards’.

O conteúdo Marc Marquez put his future on the line: ‘I wasn’t enjoying myself, and if I’m not, there’s no point in continuing to race, to continue my career…’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

In a potentially groundbreaking move for the MotoGP world, Marc Marquez might cross the proverbial Rubicon, transitioning from Honda to Gresini Ducati in 2024. Although Marquez had previously indicated that decisions regarding his future would be settled between the Indian Grand Prix and the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix, recent developments suggest a more extended timeline.

According to a well-informed Spanish media AS.com, an unprecedented contractual arrangement is being discussed. This unique plan, possibly the mysterious “Plan C” hinted at by the eight-time World Champion, involves Honda “loaning” Marquez to the satellite Ducati team, Gresini, for the final year of his contract, only to reclaim him in 2025. By then, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) would have undergone a comprehensive reorganization, incorporating European engineers and moving away from the traditional Japanese working methods that seem outdated in the current MotoGP landscape. The goal would be to develop a more competitive RC213V.

This “loan” concept, familiar in sports like football, would address the sensitive issue of prematurely breaking a contract that runs through the end of 2024 for Marquez. However, it also implies that Marquez would spend a season gaining insights into Ducati’s operations, potentially sharing these findings with Honda upon his return. While Ducati has maintained that any negotiations are solely between its satellite team and Marquez, the loan’s implications could change the narrative, prompting Ducati’s main team in Borgo Panigale to take a closer look.

This weekend, during the Japanese Grand Prix, Marquez is expected to meet with Honda’s top brass, where more light might be shed on these speculations.

O conteúdo Spanish Media says: Honda could loan Marc Marquez to Gresini Ducati before a return in 2025 aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.