Fabio di Giannantonio: GP24? “I’d love to try again my Friday bike in Japan, but...”

Amid the ongoing intrigue over the changes Ducati made to Francesco Bagnaia’s factory machine, fellow GP25 rider Fabio di Giannantonio insists his primary focus is on a more basic goal.

Like Bagnaia, di Giannantonio - promoted to a third factory-spec machine at VR46 this season - has struggled to match Marc Marquez’s heroics on the 2025 bike.

It certainly hasn’t been a disaster, Diggia surpassing his best MotoGP season points total several rounds ago and fighting for a career high of fifth in the world championship against Pedro Acosta and team-mate Franco Morbidelli.

Unable to crack the top three last season, di Giannantonio has also made six rostrum appearances in Sprint and GPs.

But the frustration for the Italian centres on the fact that he’s unable to sustain that form, even from one day to the next.

“Me, Ducati and the team are working really hard to try and understand what happens with the bike, to understand why the bike is not working constantly in the same way,” di Giannantonio said during the Mandalika weekend.

“Still, we need more time to analyse everything and find a clear answer to this. I’m trying to keep the feedback as precise as possible.”

An obvious difference between newly crowned champion Marquez and the other GP25s is that the Spaniard runs the latest aero, while his Italian ‘team-mates’ prefer the older version.

“I think Marc is on his way. But it’s always been like this all year. Pecco and me, we always looked for something different. And the package, too has been quite different throughout the year,” di Giannantonio said.

“Ducati has lots of parts and we can customise the bike as we want, let’s say. Everybody is trying to find the best combo to go faster… We’re doing a lot of work.”

That brings up talk of Bagnaia’s rumoured switch to a GP25-powered GP24 at the Misano test and then Motegi, where he spectacularly won both races from pole… only to sink to a new low a week later in Indonesia.

“I’d love to try again my bike from Friday in Japan...”

Would di Giannantonio, who mirrored Marquez in jumping straight from a satellite GP23 to factory GP25 this season, like to try a GP24?

“You know what? I’m riding the latest version of the bike, that Ducati brings to us. And when it’s working good, the bike is f**king good!” he said.

“For example, I’d love to try again my bike from Friday in Japan. But unfortunately, it’s the same bike I did the race with in Japan!”

di Giannantonio began the Motegi weekend with fifth, two places ahead of Bagnaia, in Friday practice.

Yet the following morning, he sank all the way to 22nd in final practice. Twelfth and last in Qualifying 2 then became a distant 13th in both races.

It summed up the yo-yoing form that di Giannantonio has battled all season as he tries to stay within the GP25's hard-to-gauge performance window.

“I just want to find a way with the team to have a consistent feeling,” he confirmed. “Something that works for sure.

“That’s what I wish from the team and Ducati. It’s not, ‘I want this part, with this part, from whatever year bike’.

“I just want to find the feeling [consistently] because when we have it, we’ve shown we have unbelievable potential.

“Like the record lap time in Sachsenring, or the race in Sachsenring, or the podiums we made this year.

“I just want to find a way with the team to have a constant feeling with the bike.”

“It’s tough to accept”

The 2023 Qatar MotoGP winner admits the inconsistency has tested his patience.

“I’m growing a lot on this side this year because I’m being really patient, patient, patient,” he said.

“Not to anyone in particular, just on this situation, because the behaviour of the bike changes.

“It’s tough to accept because, honestly speaking, on Friday in Japan I thought I could be one of the guys on Saturday and Sunday.

“And then ten hours later, I was not at all.”

di Giannantonio starts the final four rounds of this season with a 16-point deficit to team-mate Franco Morbidelli, and with a 24-point gap to bridge to Acosta.