MotoGP, Sportrik Media - Fabio Di Giannantonio of Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team endured a contrasting 2026 Brazilian MotoGP weekend in Goiania, recovering from a heavy Warm Up crash to secure a podium finish in the main race.
The incident occurred at Turns 9 and 10 on Sunday morning, in a crash similar in nature to the one suffered by Francesco Bagnaia during qualifying. The impact caused extensive damage to his Desmosedici, forcing the team into an intense repair effort just hours before the race start.
Despite the setback, Fabio Di Giannantonio delivered a competitive race performance, ultimately finishing on the podium. He later admitted that he had initially underestimated the physical consequences of the crash, which affected him during the early stages of the race.
“I’m super happy about the weekend, super happy about this podium because the team really deserved it after the hard work they did this morning,” Di Giannantonio said.
“After my crash, I completely destroyed my bike, so they didn’t even have lunch. They were fully focused on fixing the bike and they were amazing, so they deserved this podium.”
He further explained that the physical impact became apparent under heavy braking, briefly disrupting his concentration and rhythm.
“I underestimated a little bit my crash this morning. I said everything was okay, but then at the first hard braking I started to feel some pain in the joint, and I lost concentration because of it.”
From a competitive standpoint, Di Giannantonio also highlighted the performance advantage of Aprilia Racing over Ducati under race conditions in Goiania, particularly in terms of race pace and consistency.
“Then I started to find my rhythm, but I saw that Aprilia definitely had something more in the race compared to us as Ducati.”
This podium result carries significant implications for the championship standings. Fabio Di Giannantonio now stands as the top Ducati rider in the standings, holding a three-point advantage over Marc Marquez and trailing championship leader Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia by 19 points.
Moreover, the result marks Ducati’s first grand prix podium of the 2026 season, following a podium drought that began after Thailand, which had ended the Italian manufacturer’s streak dating back to the 2021 British Grand Prix.
With momentum building for Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team, focus now shifts to the next round at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. Maintaining performance consistency and managing physical condition will be critical as the early phase of the championship continues.
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