RiderTua.com – A day after teammate Marco Bezzecchi won the VR46 team’s first podium in MotoGP this season, Fabio di Giannantonio put his bike at the top of the Jerez test time sheet on Monday. The 25 year old rider was the fastest for most of the day thanks to a time of 1:36.405 seconds on the 23rd lap of the 70 laps he completed.
Having taken a step forward in braking and corner entry with his GP23, Diggia feels he can be one of the best riders at Le Mans (next series 10-12 May). Regarding the reaction to his performance at the Jerez test, the 2023 Qatar GP winner said, “It always seems to surprise everyone that I can be fast!”
Fabio di Giannantonio: I was the fastest at the Jerez Test. That must have surprised everyone
Fabio di Giannantonio added, “I think we are strong, the team is fantastic and today we also did a great job. Ducati also gave us some updates. So it was important to try a lot of things and we were already fast. I always try to improve my riding style, but with this bike we are a little lacking in terms of braking, especially in the last part of braking because the GP23 relies a lot on the front of the bike when driven.
The Italian rider emphasized that it was difficult to take the right line, preparing himself well to exit the corner. And today they are making progress in that area. So that’s very good. Diggia said they could go to Le Mans with a lot of positives. And if the team confirms all the good things from this test, he thinks they can become one of the best, he added.
Diggia feels his results this season (his best finish was 6th at COTA) do not correlate with the pace shown at other points in each race weekend, although his 34 points is still double the number he scored at the same stage last year.
“We had some problems, but it wasn’t about the set-up. I think, honestly, we were fast. I’m happy with my start to the season. Also in Jerez we were quite fast, it’s just that during the race I missed the first 2-3 laps because I was a little difficult with the rear tire,” concluded Diggia.
The next challenge for Diggia and Bezzecchi is to try to score the first points in the sprint race this season for the VR46 team at Le Mans.
