MotoGP | Di Giannantonio: “Right sanction, but a bit of humanity is missing”

The French Grand Prix was one of the most spectacular of the season, with the battle for victory between Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia (at the finish line in that order). However, even behind them there were no-holds-barred battles between riders who also had the pace to compete with the leading trio. Among these, Fabio Di Giannantonio, sixth, but fighting for the podium in the initial stages.

At Le Mans, the driver of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 team had achieved an excellent fourth position in qualifying and, with an excellent start, he immediately moved into the leading group, also managing to keep up with the leaders. However, a few too many problems, from his physical condition to a Long Lap Penalty, affected his race, and he finished in sixth position, limiting the damage despite his excellent potential.

In fact, in the second half of the race, Diggia began to feel pain in his forearm, the result of the significant effort astride the GP23, which at Le Mans featured various innovations tested (and approved) in the Jerez tests: “Good race, up until with 11 laps to go we had a great race! I started well, I got there, I overtook Aleix after struggling a bit at the beginning. Then I was going to get the first two, I felt very strong, very good.”

“I just started to struggle a bit with my right forearm. She’s been pumping a lot when coming out of corners all weekend, she’s really nervous and we’ve never really managed to calm her down. This made me tire a lot, so at a certain point I had to lower the pace, so Vinales and Marquez came to pick me up. I was a bit finished from mid-race onwards. It’s a shame, because we were very strong. But we know that it depends on several things, and one of these is the work with the team, we can improve something on the bike. I see a great margin for the next races,” explained the Roman.

It’s not about arm pump, therefore, but about simply getting used to a bike that, with new features, must be tamed: “MotoGP is also this: finding the right setup that makes you ride as freely as possible. Since the new parts arrived in Jerez, the bike has changed a bit, it helps me in many aspects, especially braking. But it’s a little rougher when exiting corners. But it’s only the first race we’re working with this new setup, so we have to work on it a bit and we need one or two races to work on it. Apart from that, everything was there, so I’m more than positive about this weekend.”

In addition to the physical, the regulation also got in the way. For cutting the chicane, the VR46 standard-bearer was sanctioned with a Long Lap Penalty, a situation which contributed to not collecting what was shown. However, as much as he accepts the penalty, Diggia asks for greater “humanity” from the Race Direction when making decisions: “Long Lap? We have rules and it’s right that there are. Sometimes, however, a bit of humanity is missing. Let me explain: I went from being ahead of the pack to losing two positions, to taking a penalty where I effectively lost another position. So basically I lost a lot more than I gained in that long run. On a human level you cannot lose an extra position by two tenths. For my part, the Long Lap didn’t fit, but obviously there is a rule and in the end it is respected.”