Fabio Di Giannantonio back on the podium: “I could have got more out of it!”

“The good news is: we’re back where we want to be!” Third place for Fabio Di Giannantonio on the starting grid and the same position at the finish line in the sprint race at Mandalika – marking the VR46 rider’s first podium finish in more than three months. As early as Friday, following qualifying, the Italian had hinted during a press conference that both he and the team had used the debrief following the previous race weekend to carry out a comprehensive analysis.

Although ‘Diggia’ remarked after the sprint race on the Indonesian circuit: “I’m self-critical and believe I could have got even more out of it.” After the start, the Roman missed his braking point, had to let Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura past, and triggered a chain reaction that resulted in Raul Fernandez and Marco Bezzecchi being forced out of the race.

Spannung nach dem Start mit Di Giannantonio, Martin und Marquez

Foto: Gold and Goose

The Italian himself had to settle for a position behind Ai Ogura for the rest of the race, but moved up to third place – the position from which he had started – shortly before the finish due to Jorge Martin’s problems. Di Giannantonio thus secured his first podium finish – and his VR46 Racing Team’s first since the sprint race at Assen – on his 28th birthday. The 2019 Moto3 World Championship runner-up also made it clear that he has no intention of resting on his laurels in his final races for his current team: “We’re hungry. We must be proud of what we’ve achieved today, but we’re not done yet. We’ll carry on tomorrow.” The Roman is also highly motivated for another reason: it is the home Grand Prix for main sponsor Pertamina.

Thanks to his third place in the sprint race, Fabio Di Giannantonio remains in sixth place in the overall World Championship standings with 237 points. He is 19 points ahead of Raul Fernandez and 9 points behind Ai Ogura.

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11.10.2026 - 03:35