Since it was officially announced on October 12th that Marc Marquez will ride for Gresini Racing next season, Fabio Di Giannantonio, the occupant of that saddle until the end of this season, has had an interesting reaction.
He put together a fourth place in Indonesia and, the following week, his first podium in the premier class, third place at the Australian Grand Prix. His two best results since arriving in MotoGP in 2022.
On Sunday, in the last of three consecutive MotoGP races scheduled in this part of the world, Di Giannantonio was unable to maintain the extraordinary level of the previous two rounds, but remained in a decent top 10, crossing the finish line ninth, seven second from the podium trio and ahead of Johann Zarco, winner last Sunday at Phillip Island.
The 25-year-old, who has been tipped as the leading candidate to replace Marc Marquez at Honda, hopes to be able to announce his future before the next race in Malaysia in two weeks’ time.
“We are working for the future and I hope I can give you good news. I believe something very good will happen soon, but I’m not in a hurry. I want to work these ten days at home to prepare for the future, and maybe I will be able to tell you something more in Malaysia “he said, sounding confident.
The rider’s representative, Diego Tavano, traveled to Buriram to meet the HRC team manager, who gave him a deadline of the next few days before making a final decision, as he explained to Motorsport.com that Honda is currently evaluating two options, that of the rider he represents and that of another MotoGP rider, although everything indicates that this “second rider” is just a way to maintain tension.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Fabio Di Giannantonio, Gresini Racing and his technical director Frankie Carchiedi, at the back
From a sporting point of view, Diggia is satisfied with the Thai weekend. “I’m happy to have finally found a basis to be fast. And this gives me less stress,” admitted the rider.
Di Giannantonio has already raced with Honda in the Moto3 class from 2016 to 2018, making the jump to Moto2 with the Speed Up for two years and then moving to the Kalex in 2021.
In 2022 he moved up to MotoGP with Gresini and this year he remained in the Faenza team but changed his technical chief, hiring Frankie Carchedi from Suzuki, who had been world champion together with Joan Mir.
“In recent years I have often changed teams and this always forces me to adapt. For this reason it is normal that at the end of the year we work better. The key was to find a good setup in terms of electronics, because with Frankie we worked very good from Mugello”, he concluded, referring to the Italian Grand Prix held at the beginning of June.
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