Fabio Di Giannantonio is baffled after Ducati setback: “Really strange!”

For Fabio Di Giannantonio, the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg did not go to plan. The VR46 Ducati rider struggled to make his mark throughout the weekend and had to settle for 9th place in the Grand Prix. In the World Championship, the Italian also lost a place to Trackhouse Aprilia rider Ai Ogura and slipped back to fifth.

It was already apparent in qualifying that Di Giannantonio would not be in contention for the top positions at the Red Bull Ring. Trailing the pole time set by Aprilia works rider Jorge Martin by 0.695 seconds, he could only manage 8th on the grid with his Ducati.

In the Sprint race, the 27-year-old finished tenth and failed to score any points. After 14 laps, he was 9.2 seconds off the lead. Nor did he manage a significant improvement on Sunday: Di Giannantonio crossed the finish line in ninth place, 14.9 seconds behind the leader over the race distance. At least he was the third-best Ducati rider behind Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia.

An unusual problem for Di Giannantonio

One problem in particular plagued ‘Diggia’ throughout the entire weekend. ‘It was a strange weekend, where I struggled with rear tyre grip from start to finish,’ reported the VR46 rider.

That surprised him in particular, as he is often strong on low-grip tracks. “It’s odd, because normally I always have grip, even when the other Ducati riders are complaining. I had grip in Barcelona, and also in Goiânia, when we were riding on the same tyre specification, I had good grip.”

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Willkommen zum Rennen am Red Bull Ring

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Pedro Acosta

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Fans

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Pecco Bagnaia und Marc Márquez

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Jorge Martin

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Brad Binder

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Marc Márquez

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Ai Ogura

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Marco Bezzecchi und Marc Márquez

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Pedro Acosta

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Johann Zarco

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Jorge Martin

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Enea Bastianini

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Pedro Acosta gewinnt das Rennen

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Pedro Acosta und Team

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Martin, Acosta, Bezzecchi

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Sieger Pedro Acosta

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Sieger Pedro Acosta

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Willkommen zum Rennen am Red Bull Ring

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In Spielberg, however, he lacked the necessary confidence when accelerating out of corners. “I lacked the feel for the throttle and couldn’t really sense how best to accelerate out of the corners. That was really strange. I was missing something here; the others worked better.”

For the Grand Prix, his team responded by making changes to the set-up. “Overall, it was a difficult weekend, but in the morning we made some changes to improve the feel for rear-wheel grip. That took us a step forward for the race,” explained Di Giannantonio. At least initially, the change had the desired effect. “It helped us, and I was quite competitive in the first few laps. But then I started having problems again.”

Ducati suffers a setback on its former showcase circuit

Di Giannantonio’s difficulties must, however, be viewed in the wider context. For it was at the Red Bull Ring of all places – a track that for years had been one of the Desmosedici’s absolute strongholds – that Ducati suffered a significant defeat.

KTM star Pedro Acosta won his team’s home race, with Aprilia riders Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi and Ai Ogura taking second to fourth place. Marc Marquez, the best-placed Ducati rider, followed in fifth. As a result, no Desmosedici made it onto the podium.

Despite his disappointing weekend, Di Giannantonio himself sees no reason to fundamentally doubt his potential. “We’re facing a few difficulties at the moment, but the potential is very high and we’re fast,” he emphasised. The way forward is therefore clear for the Italian: “We’re staying positive because we know we can get back to the top.”

This should happen as soon as possible. Because, in addition to his disappointing performance at Spielberg, Di Giannantonio also suffered a setback in the World Championship. Ai Ogura overtook the VR46 rider, who is now down to fifth in the World Championship standings.