Fabio di Giannantonio faster than Marc Marquez: “GP23 allows me to push harder”

Fabio di Giannantonio was the fastest Ducati GP23 on Monday at the MotoGP preseason test in Qatar.

The new VR46 rider was fourth-quickest, an interesting statement to his rivals on the same bike including Marc Marquez at the track where he won his first MotoGP race last season.

Di Giannantonio has recalled flawed advice from Francesco Bagnaia about his seamless adjustment from the ‘22 to the ‘23 Ducati.

“Well, last year, the few podiums that I did… I was chatting with Pecco about the differences between the bikes,” Di Giannantonio explained.

“He was saying that with the ‘23 bike I will have to change, a little bit, my riding style.

“Because my riding style would be worse for this bike.

“But the truth is that it’s improved my good points!

“I am just riding as I was riding last year.

“The bike allows me to push harder and faster, and I have more feeling from the bike.

“Honestly, it’s everything better, from my side.”

Di Giannantonio left behind Gresini Ducati to link up with VR46 this year.

He lost his seat to Marquez but then delivered his career-best form, winning in Qatar and finishing third in Australia, to earn the vacant VR46 spot.

New teammate Marco Bezzecchi was down in 11th on Monday in Qatar.

It is clear that, at this early stage, Di Giannantonio is the rider most adapted to the GP23.

“It’s been a good day, honestly,” he said.

“We wanted to start with the feeling that we had in Malaysia.

“The feeling was there. We were quite fast from the beginning.

“We tried to focus on the used tyres, especially the rear tyre for the race.

“We were super fast with a lot of laps on the tyres, so that’s a good sign for us.

“We miss some feeling on the front which we must fix for [Tuesday] and for the race in two weeks.

“So we have a margin and areas to improve.

“That’s a good point. I saw a lot of riders putting on new tyres at the end of the day. We didn’t want to waste some tenths on it.”