2025 MotoGP Ducati feels “always a bit strange” - Fabio Di Giannantonio

VR46 MotoGP rider Fabio Di Giannantonio says the Ducati Desmosedici GP25 feels “always a bit strange”.

Di Giannantonio finished second in Saturday’s (23 August) Hungarian MotoGP Sprint, behind fellow GP25 rider Marc Marquez whose victory in the 13-lapper at Balaton Park marked his seventh consecutive Sprint win and means a 151-point lead for the eight-time World Champion ahead of Sunday’s grand prix.

The VR46 Racing Team rider’s podium was a meaningful one for both him and the team because of the difficult races he had in Brno, where he didn’t score points, and Austria where he was unable to get into Q2.

Francesco Bagnaia, the third of the GP25 riders, has had his own struggles this year which continued at Balaton Park, where he missed Q2 for the first time this season to the frustration of factory Ducati Team Manager Davide Tardozzi.

Neither Bagnaia nor Di Giannantonio have been especially specific in their descriptions of the issues they have faced aboard the Desmosedici GP25 this year, but after the Sprint in Hungary Di Giannantonio was able to give some detail on the way the behaviour of the bike changes from one condition to another.

“The feeling with this bike is always a bit strange, particular,” Fabio Di Giannantonio told MotoGP.com after the Hungary Sprint.

“You really have to work in a detailed way to feel the bike how you want it and it changes a lot when you change the conditions, when the grip changes.

“So, it’s tricky.

“Marc [Marquez] is doing great with the team, so it means that it’s possible to do.

“For us, it’s taking a little longer, but step-by-step I hope that we will get there.”

After Saturday’s 13-lap race, Di Giannantonio sits fifth in the riders’ standings, now two points clear of his VR46 teammate Franco Morbidelli, who took third place in the Balaton Sprint, and 28 points behind Marco Bezzecchi.