“Riding on ice” - Ducati MotoGP title hopeful explains Aragon sprint crash

VR46 Ducati MotoGP rider Fabio Di Giannantonio says his crash out of the Aragon Grand Prix sprint came after he felt like he was “riding on ice”.

The Italian qualified seventh on the grid on Saturday morning at Aragon, but only survived a lap of the sprint before he crashed out at the penultimate corner on the second tour.

It was a costly crash for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who is now 46 points from championship leader Jorge Martin.

Di Giannantonio says he had no grip from the start of the 11-lap sprint, suggesting that he had an issue with his tyre, though he declined to point the finger directly at Michelin.

“Well, the feeling from the start was really bad with the rear part of the bike,” he said.

“Since the beginning, maybe I’m one of the guys who never complains about the rear part of the bike, let’s say.

“So, this time I was riding on ice.

“And after two, three brakings, where I was braking normally but was arriving completely sideways, I was not stopping and as soon as the bike got a little bit of grip, I was out of the line too fast and I lost the front.”

When asked if there was any explanation, he replied: “Who knows?”

Asked if his lack of grip was down to a change in track conditions due to the heat, he said: “Absolutely not. No, absolutely not.”

Without his problems, Di Giannantonio doesn’t believe he could have fought with the leading Ducatis of Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez, but thinks a top five was realistic.

“Well, for sure, we didn’t have the pace of Marc and Alex,” he continued.

“I think not even Bez’s one. I think they are riding really good here. And our target was to be close to them, maybe to be top four, top five.

“I would have been happy with that because we were struggling here last year.

“So, a top five here would be great. So, that’s the goal for tomorrow. For sure, I need to improve some things, we need to improve the bike a little bit.”

The Italian didn’t consider the soft rear to be a viable option for him in the sprint, with all Ducati riders picking the medium.

“Well, this morning I tried it, and I was dropping quite a lot,” he said about the soft tyre.

“Since the seventh lap I started to be slower than the medium.

“So, I was quite convinced about the medium. Also last year I did the race with the medium, and I did a really good race, recovering a lot of places.

“So, the pace was OK. So, I knew the medium was the right tyre for the sprint… a medium, not that medium.”