A Ducati rider was "so far away" but is now threatening to upstage rivals

VR46 Ducati MotoGP rider Fabio Di Giannantonio says he has “found a great feeling” with the GP25 having started the year ’so far away’ due to injury.

The one-time grand prix winner came into 2025 with factory support for the first time in MotoGP, after penning a new two-year deal to remain with VR46 to the end of next season.

But Fabio Di Giannantonio’s time as a factory-backed rider didn’t get off to the best start, as a crash at the end of the opening day of testing while doing a wheelie forced him out of the rest of the pre-season.

By round three, however, Di Giannantonio returned to the podium for the first time since 2023 and has bagged two more rostrums, with a third in the Silverstone sprint and third in the Mugello grand prix.

Fabio di Giannantonio was 'so far away'

After 12 rounds of the campaign, he is on for his best season yet, as he comes into this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix fifth in the standings on 142 points.

“I’m happy, in the end,” he told MotoGP’s official website.

“We started so far [away], from the injuries and all the things that you know well.

“We recovered, we found a great feeling with the bike.

“We did the last four, five races in a really strong way. We are fifth in the championship.

“So, at the moment it’s my top ranking position. So, we have to be happy.

“We are improving, we are doing great races. We just have to fix a few things here and there.

“But I think we are in quite the right direction if you see the overall path.”

At the same stage of the 2024 campaign, Di Giannantonio was ninth in the championship on 112 points and would go the entire season without a podium.

In 2023, after 12 rounds, Di Giannantonio had only amassed 43 points and was in 16th in the standings.

A late-season resurgence in 2023 led to him saving his career as VR46 offered him a seat for the following year, while his place at Gresini was taken by Marc Marquez.