Fabio Di Giannantonio finished fifth in the Sprint of the Malaysian GP, which was affected by the rain. Franco Morbidelli was seventeenth.
The weather at Sepang International Circuit always has a few surprises in store, and the rain made the Sprint of the Malaysian GP challenging: in a tricky situation, the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team secured a fifth place with Fabio Di Giannantonio, while Franco Morbidelli finished the Saturday’s race in seventeenth place after swapping his bike.
Di Giannantonio had a consistent Qualifying which allowed him to be in sixth place (1’58”842). At the Sprint start, Fabio lost a position, but he fought his way back into the battle for the leading positions, gaining two places to climb into the Top5. Rain began to fall halfway through the race, making conditions more challenging, but the rider from Rome showed a great pace, defending his position firmly and crossing the finish line of a difficult Sprint in fifth place. Di Giannantonio is now sixth in the World Standing with 257 points.
After securing a direct Q2 spot, Morbidelli was able to be in Top10 during all the Qualifying securing the ninth place (1’57”268). However, Franco had a difficult start from the third row and dropped six positions. This forced him to bounce back. Rain arrived and made the Sprint more challenging, so the Italian-Brazilian rider went back to the garage to swap the bike, coming back on track in eighteenth place. But rain did not intensify as expected, so he could not take full advantage of wet tyres. Morbidelli crossed the finish line in seventeenth place, and he is now sixteenth in the World Standing with 59 points.
The Malaysian GP will conclude tomorrow with the main race, which is scheduled to start exceptionally at 3:00 p.m. (local time, +8 UTC).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“Today, the Sprint was not easy due to the rain that arrived halfway through the race. There were plenty of raindrops, but it was very hot and the track wasn't particularly wet until the final lap. However, I stayed out on track with confidence despite the tricky conditions and focused on bringing home a Top5 finish. Anyway, I am very happy with the feeling on the bike. During the Sprint, I got confirmation that our setup is good, and we have a good package. It was a pity that we could not show our potential because we missed something. For tomorrow, the goal will be to make another small step forward to find what we are missing, the team and I are working very hard. The riders ahead of us still have something more in terms of pace, but I think we can be in the fight tomorrow and get closer to them.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“Today in the Sprint, the start was not ideal, and I dropped six positions, then it started raining and I bet on the weather. I tried it, but it was not the perfect strategy. We know that Sepang is a track that always has a few surprises in store, but I did not have the result I wanted, unfortunately. The rain didn’t help, but we look at the positive. This morning, even if we didn’t have yesterday’s pace, both in FP2 and in Qualifying we didn’t lose too much, and I got the third row. For tomorrow, we look at the forecast again, and we aim to keep the pace we showed this morning.”
