di Giannantonio: “I need to nail it, Marc is amazing at this”
Fabio di Giannantonio has scored at every MotoGP round but is yet to put together a perfect weekend.
Fabio di Giannantonio is the only rider in the MotoGP World Championship top six to have scored points at all 13 rounds so far.
His season includes eight podiums, one of them a grand prix victory in Catalunya, but the VR46 rider is now in danger of losing touch with the title fight.
di Giannantonio lost his status as Ducati’s leading rider to Marc Marquez in Germany, with the reigning champion now splitting factory Aprilia duo Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi at the top of the standings.
Meanwhile, di Giannantonio sits fourth overall, 48 points from the top, and admits he has yet to put together what he considers a perfect weekend.
“I still feel incomplete, maybe I will never feel that complete. But I still have to improve,” he said on Thursday at Misano.
“If you see my weekends, I've been consistent, but I've never been like a perfect qualifying, perfect Sprint and perfect race without mistakes.
“So I need to nail it. Marc is super able to do this. He's amazing at this. When he has to make it, he makes it. It's incredible.
“It's a thing that I have to learn, and I have to improve.”
Marquez has maximised his strongest weekends with three Sprint and grand prix doubles so far this season.
The only other rider to sweep both races at the same event is championship leader Martin at Le Mans.
Nonetheless, knowing when to settle for points has helped keep di Giannantonio on course for his best MotoGP campaign yet.
“Sometimes it's not easy, but sometimes you have to be clever. With 44 races, you must be clever if you want to be up there,” he said.
“You can try to be the superhero, but sometimes it's too risky. Especially when you are a little over the half part of the season, that now really every point counts, you cannot risk that much.
“It's good to risk for a victory or for the final step of the podium maybe, but not for seventh to sixth.”
Raul Fernandez (seventh) and Luca Marini (eleventh) are the only other riders to have scored in all 13 rounds so far.
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.
