Fabio di Giannantonio’s Americas GP practice pace transformed after switch to slicks

Fabio di Giannantonio says he could notice a complete transformation in his performance after bolting on slick tyres in main practice for the Americas Grand Prix on Friday.

VR46 rider Di Giannantonio struggled to 16th place in a wet opening practice at the Circuit of the Americas, lapping 2.3s slower than his teammate Franco Morbidelli who topped the session.

But as the track began to dry out on Friday afternoon, the Italian was able to switch to slick tyres and finish second-fastest in the session, behind only factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez.

Di Giannantonio was puzzled by his lack of speed in wet conditions but was delighted to secure an automatic spot into Q2 for the second round in succession.

“It has been difficult. The conditions were improving,” he told MotoGP’s official website.

“At that range, we have to work a little bit on it because I have always been a rider to be fast in wet conditions and today it was very difficult for me to get into the rhythm. So for sure, we have to understand what happened and what we can improve from these conditions.

“When it was coming dry and dry, I was getting back the feeling lap by lap. And in the end, I was able to do a very good lap time. I'm happy.

“For sure always the goal for Friday is to build the performance for Sunday, but most of all be inside Q2. So we achieved it. just happy.”

No further rain is expected over the remainder of the weekend, meaning any data that teams accumulated on Friday would count for very little in the sprint and the grand prix on Sunday.

However, di Giannantonio believes this could play into VR46’s hands, as the changing conditions have prevented factory teams from getting an early advantage over their rivals.

“But it is good like this,” he said. “Like this everybody is a little bit in a bad situation. so everybody is in the same [boat]. We just have to be better than others.”

Morbidelli also makes it through to Q2

Di Giannantonio’s teammate Morbidelli climbed to third place in practice with a last-gasp attempt on his Ducati GP24, ensuring both VR46 riders made it through to Q2.

Morbidelli was pinning all his hopes on his final flying lap, as his previous effort was not enough to secure an automatic entry into the second part of qualifying.

“It was a pretty eventful day. That lap was really important, was crucial, and was our only chance to go to Q2 because some things happened.

“No yellow flags, no mistakes and it was clean enough to go directly to Q2, which is crucial nowadays.

“I’m really happy and pleased about the job we have done. We worked with the medium front as well. We decided to jump on the tyre but maybe it was too soon but it was important to get some information about it.”

Morbidelli scored his first podium since 2021 with an impressive ride to third place in Argentina.

The result also marked VR46’s first rostrum in almost 12 months, with last year’s Spanish GP marking the last time a rider from Valentino Rossi’s team finished inside the top three.

Morbidelli admitted that his performance in the Argentina GP has acted as motivation for the entire team to push for better results.

“For sure, we started with a good mojo. The Argentina result gave us a great, great confidence injection,” he said.

“We have to keep on working in this way, exactly like we did today. We did all the right things and we tried everything we needed to try. We ticked everything we needed to explore. Finally was another really positive day.”