VR46 Ducati duo in top-five at home MotoGP: “We achieved every goal”

Both Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli delivered double-top-five results at the San Marino MotoGP, the former saying he achieved “every goal of the weekend”.

Di Giannantonio qualified only on the third row, but made an excellent start in the Sprint to put himself in position to capitalise on Marc Marquez’s crash and finish on the podium in third.

On Sunday, his fifth place marked his first top-10 finish in a grand prix since he was sixth at the Netherlands after retirements in Germany and Austria, the technical problem on the sighting lap in Hungary, and the disaster weekend he suffered in Czechia.

“Finally we finished again the Sunday race,” Fabio Di Giannantonio told MotoGP.com.

“It was, for sure, the primary goal of today, and we finished with a top-five. So, that’s great, we have to be proud of the weekend. 

“Every goal of the weekend, we achieved it. The goal was to be straight away in Q2 on Friday; do a good qualifying, I was okay; making the podium in the Sprint was amazing in front of the fans. 

“Today, at the end, I can say that it was a pretty solid race with a really good pace, especially at the end, so we must be proud, take back the energy and continue to push.”

Franco Morbidelli missed the podium Di Giannantonio had on Saturday, but took two fourths in his home race.

“Really positive weekend, I’m really happy,” the VR46 Racing Team rider said.

“We were fast throughout all the weekend, throughout all three days. We worked very well. 

“I have to thank the team because, after Barcelona, we arrived here and we were aiming on doing a solid weekend and that was the case.”