di Giannantonio angry at concussion: ‘Gravel insane, better to race at Monaco!’

The Gresini Ducati rider was conducting a Sprint race simulation when he lowsided at Turn 7, sending him sliding into the gravel trap.

But the ‘normal’ accident suddenly escalated when he hit big ‘rocks’ sending him ‘exploding’ through the gravel trap and causing hard impacts to his head.

di Giannantonio’s biggest annoyance is that, despite repeated warnings over the size of the rocks in the gravel trap, he will now miss out on the crucial final day of testing as well as several days of training.

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“Yesterday was a big one, but overall I'm quite OK. I think I could ride today, but the doctor said that it's better to wait a little bit because I had a concussion,” said di Giannantonio.

“It's a pity because the day was going really good and I was feeling great with the bike, like Sepang, like Valencia.

“It's a pity also because honestly it was just a low-side crash but here the gravel is insane. Every year we complain about the gravel because there are really big rocks. And when you hit them, it is more painful than hitting the asphalt.

“I was just sliding on the asphalt and once I touched the gravel, I did like an explosion. And once my head banged the gravel, I completely ‘disconnected’. But if you see the helmet is something unbelievable. I've never seen a thing like this.

“I’ve asked my team to say something [about it] because we pay so much attention to things like the safety equipment of the riders, the spray [paint] on the kerbs and the lines at the side of the circuit, so I think there has to be a [better] guideline [for gravel traps].

“Because like this, it’s like going into the wall and what I was saying is if we have to race like this, it's better to go to Monaco! That is more show and the risk is the same.

“We’ve asked them to change the gravel here for many, many years and for these days of testing they change just for turn 1 and not the rest of the circuit.

“They say every time ‘yeah, we'll do something’. Us riders and also race direction and staff are asking to the circuit to do something, but it seems not.”

di Giannantonio, who was left ninth quickest on day one, said that the accident left him dizzy, with blurred vision and nausea.

“It was a big one, honestly. But the crash started as like a normal crash, so to lose a day of testing and 3-4 days of training also at home, just for gravel, makes me angry.”

The young Italian, who took a surprise home Mugello pole alongside a best of eighth place during his rookie season, added that he had no complaints about being declared unfit by the doctors, as long as the same action is taken for everyone.

“The main thing is to be OK physically,” he said. “Let's hope that every time it will be like this because in the past we saw a lot of riders riding one day after surgery or something.”

As of 11:30am, team-mate Alex Marquez was leading the timesheets with his GP22 machine.