Breathe. This was written on Fabio Di Giannantonio’s board after the Phillip Island podium. In Lusail, the Roman opened his lungs wide to breathe the fresh, clean air of the first step of the podium. Yes, Fabio, that is the smell of victory. A hard-earned, desired victory that came in the most difficult moment of his short (up to now) career in MotoGP. Just when his 2024 is uncertain, without knowing whether he will be able to line up on the starting grid or not, Diggia he took the lead and took the victory in the Qatar Grand Prix.
He triumphed ahead of Pecco Bagnaia, who seemed unbeatable in the early stages of the race. He did it by putting the wheels of his Ducati in front of those of the reigning world champion, with a decisive and perfectly constructed overtaking move. He had said it about Giannantonio, he wanted to end the season with a victory and this arrived under the headlights of Lusail: “What a show! It’s the best day of my life, it’s crazy! My goodness, what have we done! It’s crazy, because we worked so hard and, damn, it’s here!”.
“At the beginning of the season we worked, worked, worked, but nothing came. It was difficult, but I had a good group around me, both in the team and at home who helped me believe in the process, to work with my head down. Today it seems like we are on the roof of the world, it’s cool!”, he comments Diggiastill in disbelief at what we achieved today.
With the first triumph of his career, Di Giannantonio becomes the 121st rider to win in the premier class, the 27th Italian. A long-awaited but studied victory in a MotoGP which today is made up not only of speed, but also of intelligence and strategy. In fact, just 5 laps from the end, the message “Mapping 8 000” appeared on the dashboard of Diggia’s Desmosedici. Memories of an almost world championship in Valencia came back to mind, with Jorge Lorenzo having received that same message as a code indicating that he should stay behind Andrea Dovizioso, who at the time was competing for the world championship with Marc Marquez.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Fabio Di Giannantonio, Gresini Racing
However, this time the “mapping 8” had a totally different, opposite meaning: “It was a signal because we made a super precise plan for the whole race. What to do at every moment of the race. That was the moment to attack Pecco or in any case whoever was in front and try to get away. We knew I had a great pace, but we saw that it was difficult to stay in front here. If I had been in front for the whole race, I would have finished the front really early. Throughout the weekend, every time I tried to ride alone, the tire on the right side got marked and I could no longer push and be consistent. Being behind someone helped me, but at the same time the temperature rose. It was a quite particular moment, but that was the signal that made me say ‘ok, it’s time, let’s go’”.
“Having a reference helps you to be precise, to keep the trail on the straight,” said Diggia, confirming that he also used the strategy. “But then, he helped me a lot to save the front. On my own I would have run out of tire halfway through the race, but having it warm enough, staying behind and getting out of the slipstream, allowed me to get to the end with the front tire ok and try to pass. Obviously, when you’re behind a rider, it helps to see what he does best and worst, you can learn and also see where you are strongest.”
Di Giannantonio is the 14th Ducati rider to achieve success, but to date he still has no future in MotoGP. What does 2024 have in store for him? “The goal is to try to stay on the grid next year. It seems like there’s still a chance. I don’t do much off the track, I have my staff who take care of these things. We’re working on it, but it seems like there’s always a little hiccup every time. The situation is a bit surreal, because I am a rider who in his second year in MotoGP achieved a victory, a podium, a pole position, many top 10s. I feel I can stay here and continue to do good things. But, for my part, I can only do my best and make peace with myself. If I had to leave this place, I would like to do it at the top, I’ve always said that. But in our opinion, with these results we can move something.”
The only free seat in the premier class at the moment is that of the Mooney VR46 team, which however seems to want a very young rider and is very close to hiring Fermin Aldeguer. What is this option, then? “VR46? I don’t know either, unfortunately everything changes here in the space of a few hours. Every now and then a door closes and a door opens, but then the door closes too. The situation is truly complicated, but I assure you that we are working on it. But tonight we’re going to celebrate,” concluded the Roman.
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