“Proud” Fabio di Giannantonio: Ducati GP24 “like another world”
Fabio di Giannantonio overcomes shoulder injury, heat on Ducati GP24 debut.
After missing all but the opening day of pre-season testing due to injury, then being forced out of the Buriram Sprint due to extreme heat from his VR46 Ducati, a ‘proud’ Fabio di Giannantonio finished tenth in Sunday’s Thai MotoGP.
The Italian was robbed of testing due to a collarbone fracture, on the same left shoulder that underwent major surgery late last year, during a freak wheelie accident at Sepang last month.
The next time he rode was during Friday practice for the opening grand prix, also his debut on the GP24 spec Ducati, with factory duo Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia deciding against the GP25 parts during his absence.
After battling pain from the shoulder in practice, di Giannantonio qualified 13th but was then roasted during the Sprint: “I got burned on the hands, on the legs, on the neck, completely burned - like never before.”
Some ‘artistic’ overnight modifications helped for Sunday, when the Italian was on course for ninth place until losing out to Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini in the final laps.
“Proud,” said di Giannantonio. “Proud of the team, proud of me, proud of the staff that I have at home. We made, I think, something really big.
“Racing in MotoGP without knowing at all the bike, without doing any kind of test [on the GP24] and without any kind of training on the shoulder - my physical condition in my upper body is zero, I didn't do a push up for six months, since the first injury in Austria last year.
“Then arriving here with these kind of conditions - [the heat] has been hell, almost fire on track! So we can say that we've done an amazing job. The potential was to be fast, even if I was starting far from the top guys. The pace even this morning was not that bad.
“The only thing that stopped us from making an outstanding performance was my body.
“If not, I think we just have to be proud, happy, because we've been fast, we finished the race in the top 10, we made some good overtakes when the body was still a little bit there.
“We never gave up. We found some solutions compared to yesterday about the heat. So just proud of everyone.”
di Giannantonio didn’t want to reveal the exact solutions, thought to involve some homemade heat shields being fitted to the bike, but admitted “some were a bit artistic!"
GP23 vs GP24 “like another world”
di Giannantonio might have had no laps on a GP24 before this weekend, but the performance blew him away compared to last year’s GP23, which was built for a previous version of the Michelin tyres.
“Way better, way better!” Diggia grinned. “Last year, I was talking with some colleagues and they were saying, ‘No, no, GP23-GP24 is [almost] the same bike, [a few] things new’.
"But... It's like another world completely! Much, much, much faster. The power is insane. The traction is unbelievable. And the turning of the bike.”
di Giannantonio’s team-mate Franco Morbidelli, on the satellite-spec GP24, completed an all Ducati top four.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
