Fabio Di Giannantonio had an offer for two seasons at Yamaha to race in the Pramac team. However, just this Saturday he thanked the managers of the Iwata manufacturer for the offer and announced that he would not accept, as learned by Motorsport.com.
At the moment only the signature is missing, but Say he preferred the offer from Ducati, which proposed a two-season contract, that is, until the end of 2026. The Borgo Panigale company guaranteed him that next year he will ride a Desmosedici GP25 with his current team, VR46. Valentino Rossi’s team had an option to renew with the Roman rider, but in the end Di Giannantonio’s contract will be directly with the factory, as the Pramac riders had until now.
In this way, Ducati will be able to keep four riders under contract, as has been the case in recent years. The name of Say will join the two official riders Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, as well as the young Fermin Aldeguer, who is still waiting to know which team he will ride for in his MotoGP debut. It is clear that his debut will be on a GP24, whether in Rossi’s team or in Gresini alongside Alex Marquez.
After Pramac’s farewell to the Ducati orbit to become a Yamaha satellite team, VR46 will take the role that Paolo Campinoti’s team has had until now. This is a sort of semi-official team with riders under contract with the factory and bikes identical to those that Bagnaia and Marquez will use. However, this time there will be a reduction from eight to six units on the 2025 grid. The managers of Borgo Panigale, in fact, have decided that only a third “official” bike will be produced, the one offered to Di Giannantonio to convince him completely.
Fabio Di Giannantonio was Yamaha’s big favourite for the Pramac team, even though Fabio Quartararo himself had publicly shown his desire for them to win.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“Say he is a rider that we like a lot and with VR we are working to bring this goal home. He is a rider who has grown a lot, we would be happy if we could keep him”, explained Claudio Domenicali, CEO Ducati, on Saturday.
In just eight months, Di Giannantonio has gone from being a rider without a team (after Marc Marquez announced his move to Gresini) to becoming the third rider for the dominant MotoGP brand. He will be the only one, along with Bagnaia and Marquez, to have access to the best and most advanced bike on the grid.
Yamaha targets Miguel Oliveira
After the negative response from the Roman, Yamaha is targeting Miguel Oliveira as the first option for its satellite team Pramac. The idea is to unite in this second structure an experienced rider and a rookie from Moto2. The options for the profile of the experienced rider are reduced to the Portuguese and Jack Miller, with a preference for the former. For the role of rookie, the most desired is Sergio Garcia, but Alonso Lopez and Tony Arbolino are also on the list, who would be the Italian quota in Campinoti’s structure.
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