Will Fabio di Giannantonio get Bagnaia’s GP25 parts for Indonesian MotoGP?
Fabio di Giannantonio said “we’ll see” if Ducati hand him Bagnaia’s Motegi-winning GP25 updates, as he targets consistency in the final five MotoGP rounds.
After Francesco Bagnaia’s perfect Motegi weekend, the big question heading into Mandalika is whether VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio will also receive the GP25 changes that transformed the double world champion’s form.
The VR46 rider has also struggled for consistent speed on this year’s factory-spec machine, his race results swinging wildly between 2nd and 16th.
Diggia has spoken of different front-end issues to Bagnaia and has been competitive at tracks where the double world champion struggled, such as Balaton Park and Misano (GP).
But after finishing just 13th in both Motegi races, where Bagnaia smashed a ten-race podium drought by leading every lap on his modified machine, di Giannantonio will want to try the Bagnaia parts as soon as possible.
However, when asked if he would have the parts in time for this weekend's Indonesian MotoGP, the Italian was keeping tight-lipped at Mandalika on Thursday.
“We'll see. I'm sure that Ducati will give us the best package possible,” di Giannantonio said. “For sure, they understood many, many other things.
“So let's see if we can have these kinds of pieces and try to make a step forward, especially in terms of consistency of results in these last five rounds.”
Bagnaia reverted to some older parts last tried in pre-season testing - thought to include the forks, swingarm, rear seat and possibly ride height device - to restore braking and corner entry confidence.
However, he was reluctant to comment further, insisting he was ‘just a rider’ when quizzed on the bike changes that transformed his fortunes since the Misano test.
di Giannantonio confirmed he knows what Ducati has done to Bagnaia’s bike, but can’t tell the media.
“For sure it’s in the interests of everybody on the team, on Ducati and on me for sure to have the best bike possible to try to make podiums and wins,” di Giannantonio added.
“So we are working to try to have the best bike and if Pecco found something that we can use, we will do.”
di Giannantonio - who has taken two grand prix podiums and three Sprint rostrums this year - starts the Mandalika MotoGP weekend seventh in the world championship, but within 14 points of GP24 team-mate Franco Morbidelli in fifth.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
Joining Crash.net in 2021 as an Editor for the Indonesian Edition, Derry oversees most of the Indonesian articles on the site.
