Fabio di Giannantonio endured his toughest weekend of the season at the Austrian MotoGP. The VR46 Ducati rider struggled for pace at the Red Bull Ring and had to settle for ninth place, 15 seconds behind winner Pedro Acosta.
“I like this track. I think we just did a wrong weekend,” said Di Giannantonio. “This weekend the bike was working OK, in terms of issues, everything was fine, but I think we went in the wrong direction yesterday. In MotoGP today, you cannot do a weekend where you go backwards. We had a decent bike but not enough to be there fighting. So I think we just did a wrong weekend, honestly.”
All Ducati riders appeared to struggle with the stiffer-construction rear tyre casing, but Di Giannantonio did not see that as an excuse. “I did the pole position with this casing in Goiania, second in the Sprint and the grand prix podium,” he added. “I think the others just worked better, they did a better job than me, than us.”
Despite not crashing, this was Di Giannantonio's worst points haul of the season. Meanwhile, Acosta celebrated his maiden MotoGP grand prix victory. “When you win, it's like you are the ‘lightest’ person in the world. It's amazing,” said Di Giannantonio. “It's not just the first time, even this year in Barcelona, when you win you are light, you touch the sky. But then on my side, the day after it gave me a super motivation, so it's like I cannot stay at home, I want to train, I want to go on the bike again, because I want to relive that feeling. I guess for him for sure it's a roller coaster of emotions, you are in the front of all the tough moments, all the mistakes, all the process. So I'm pretty sure that today for him and the team is an amazing day and it's fully deserved from him, he's an amazing rider. So he deserves it.”
Di Giannantonio will join Acosta's current KTM team in 2027. Acosta has taken fourth in the world championship from Di Giannantonio by just four points heading into next weekend's Motegi round.
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