Fabio di Giannantonio continued his impressive early-season form with a third-place finish at the Spanish MotoGP in Jerez, maintaining his run of podium performances and moving up to third in the world championship standings. The VR46 Ducati rider, who also qualified third, expressed pride in carrying his strong results from the flyaway rounds into the first European race of the season.
“I’m super happy, super proud of what we’re doing in this first part of the season. I think we made a clear step on our communication and our method of work,” di Giannantonio stated. “There is this little legend that when you get to Europe, the championship starts for real and we’ve been able to be fast also here in Jerez. It’s not been my best track in my career, so I’m super happy about what we’re doing.”
After slipping to fifth at the start, di Giannantonio quickly regained ground, moving up to fourth after Marc Marquez’s crash and then overtaking Jorge Martin on lap four to secure his podium spot.
The Italian did admit to one regret: a set-up change for the main race. “During these races, I suffered a little bit of understeer with this bike. And yesterday for the sprint, we found something that was a little better. But then this morning in warm-up, I tried again my [normal] base set-up, and the feeling was much better than the sprint. So I followed the feeling of this morning, but then this afternoon was a little worse! We need to analyse and understand what we can do to remove this little understeer.”
Understeer proved to be a particular challenge at Jerez, known for its tight layout and heavy demands on front tyre precision. “Here it’s a bit different because in my case, I always suffer with the front here. The track is smaller, you have to be super precise. Here is like a kart track, let’s say, you have to be super precise. Everything counts.”
Looking ahead, di Giannantonio will remain at Jerez for Monday’s official test, aiming to resolve set-up issues before the next round at Le Mans. With a 30-point gap to championship leader Marco Bezzecchi, he remains determined to build on his strong start to the season.
