Fabio Di Giannantonio hints at major changes before Hungarian MotoGP Sprint podium

Major overnight changes have been hinted at by Fabio Di Giannantonio after his Hungary MotoGP Sprint podium.

The VR46 Racing Team rider finished second in the first MotoGP race at Balaton Park having qualified third behind Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi.

The route to that front row position was complicated, though, as Di Giannantonio – like Bezzecchi – was forced to go through Q1 after finishing only 13th in Practice on Friday.

Speaking after the Sprint, Di Giannantonio explained that he ”changed quite a lot the bike” for Saturday after his struggles on Friday.

“I hoped and I worked for it all the afternoon,” Fabio Di Giannantonio told MotoGP.com after the Sprint in Hungary.

“It paid off at the end.

“We changed quite a lot the bike for today, for this morning, and it worked.

“So, I’m super-happy and super-proud of the team [for] how we turned around the things, how we stayed united and worked together. It’s a real team result.”

Di Giannantonio’s result combined with Franco Morbidelli’s third place to mark a strong Saturday for the Italian team that had struggled in recent weeks, with Di Giannantonio having difficult races in both Czechia and Austria after crashing out of second in Germany, and with Morbidelli being forced out of the Germany and Czech races after a crash in the Sachsenring Sprint.

“For sure, the team needed it,” Di Giannantonio said of the Hungary Sprint result.

“At the end, we are a great structure. I’m not saying just because I wear these colours but the team is an amazing team with big names, big people, inside the team.

“So, we have to give our maximum, our 100 per cent, always and, even if we were working hard, the results were not coming.

“When it’s like this it’s always so hard to keep high the energy.

“But we were able to do it, we stayed always united, and today is really a hard work result.”