Fabio Di Giannantonio in “completely unusual” situation at Austrian MotoGP

Fabio Di Giannantonio was unusually anonymous in the Austrian MotoGP Sprint, finishing outside the points in 10th as he battled what he has called a “completely unusual” situation.

The Red Bull Ring is one of the few tracks on the MotoGP calendar – along with Buriram, Goiania, and Mandalika – where Michelin takes a harder-construction rear tyre designed to cope with excessive heat build-up.

The construction used at the Red Bull Ring is the same as was used in Brazil earlier this year where Di Giannantonio was able to finish second in the Sprint and third in the grand prix.

With that same tyre in Austria, though, Di Giannantonio has found himself without rear grip, something he feels is strange considering how he has performed at other low-grip tracks this year, most notably in Catalunya where he won.

“It's quite strange this weekend,” Fabio Di Giannantonio said after the Austrian MotoGP Sprint.

“I want to continue to be positive and stay focused, for sure, but the truth is that we are struggling so much with rear grip all weekend long. 

“It’s normal, I’m hearing all the riders from Ducati – but from my side, it’s completely unusual.

“When everybody complains about grip, I’m usually the guy that says there’s more grip on track. In Barcelona I always had grip, in Goiania with the same casing, same level of grip.

“So, I’m experiencing a new thing this year.

“I’m really struggling to get the connection with the throttle, really struggling to understand where is the grip to have a good acceleration. It’s strange. 

“For sure I’m missing something, for sure we have to work better, and for sure the others are better than us at the moment. 

“But we need to keep focused and try to improve.”

Looking to Sunday’s full-distance race, VR46 Racing Team's Di Giannantonio added: “I will do everything possible to try to understand what to improve. We did some races where we improved from the second day to the third, let’s say. 

“For sure it's never easy but I will try. For sure we must, we must improve something or we must try to improve for tomorrow.”