Fabio di Giannantonio

Fabio di Giannantonio remains at VR46 but steps up to full-factory Ducati machinery for the first time in 2025.

Fabio di Giannantonio - Route to MotoGP

After race wins in both the Moto3 and Moto2 classes for Gresini, either side of a pair of Moto2 seasons spent with Speed Up, Fabio di Giannantonio moved up to the premier-class with the revised Gresini Ducati team in 2022.

Although the 23-year-old didn't win a world championship in the smaller classes, he finished title runner-up in the 2018 Moto3 series.

Fabio di Giannantonio in MotoGP

Gresini Ducati (2022 - 2023)

di Giannantonio got his MotoGP career off to a promising start by being the fastest rookie on his debut at the Jerez test in November. 

After a mixed debut MotoGP season, Fabio di Giannantonio remains with the Gresini Ducati team for 2023.

While unable to approach the heroics of four-time race-winning team-mate Enea Bastianini, di Giannantonio made the most of tricky weather conditions at Mugello to snatch a shock pole position, only his second in grand prix racing!

The middle stages of the season were certainly his most rewarding, di Giannantonio taking the year-old GP21 to points in five of seven rounds, including an eighth place in Germany.

But the momentum suddenly disappeared and, in a repeat of his difficult start to the season, six non-scores followed.

di Giannantonio made his frustration clear with an emotional social media post before boarding the flight back from the penultimate round at Sepang, then salvaged 15th place at the Valencia finale.

'Diggia' was boosted by the arrival of Joan Mir's title-winning Suzuki crew chief Frankie Carchedi for 2023, but still trailed behind new team-mate Alex Marquez for the first half of the season.

A handful of names were soon linked to di Giannantonio’s seat for 2024, most surprisingly Marc Marquez, whose deal to join Alex at the team was officially confirmed after Japan. 

With his MotoGP future hanging in the balance, di Giannantonio rose to the challenge by delivering a debut MotoGP podium at Phillip Island and a sensational victory over world champion Francesco Bagnaia at the penultimate round in Qatar.

Yet he still arrived at the Valencia finale without a ride for the following year, with VR46 initially downplaying interest in slotting Diggia into future Repsol Honda rider Luca Marini's seat.

Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti branded it “unacceptable” that di Giannantonio still didn’t have a ride for 2024 but made clear that VR46 choses its own riders.

The saga of di Giannantonio’s future was finally settled on the eve of the Valencia test, a day after he was stripped of a podium by a tyre pressure penalty, when he was named as VR46's first 'non-Academy' MotoGP rider.

VR46 Ducati (2024 - Present)

Joining Marco Bezzecchi at Valentino Rossi's team on what would prove 'tricky' satellite spec GP23s, di Giannantonio may not have graced the podium in 2024 but his solid consistent results - combined with the exit of fellow Ducati young guns Jorge Martin (Aprilia), Bezzecchi (Aprilia) and Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) - saw him rewarded with an official Ducati contract and factory-spec machinery at VR46 for 2025.

di Giannantonio missed the closing rounds of the season to undergo major shoulder surgery, sustained during a practice accident in Austria, but still finished higher than Bezzecchi with tenth in the world championship standings.