Fabio Di Giannantonio celebrates his birthday with the third place in Mandalika Sprint, and he’s back on the Sprint podium in front of the Indonesian fans. Franco Morbidelli is fourteenth.
The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team has plenty to celebrate on Saturday of the Pertamina Indonesian GP: Fabio Di Giannantonio claimed the third place in the Sprint at Mandalika, and he celebrated his birthday with a podium, his first one in Indonesia. Franco Morbidelli had a more complicated Saturday and arrived at the chequered flag in fourteenth place.
Di Giannantonio had a positive start to the Saturday, since he was third in Qualifying (1’29”048) and he was back on front row. Despite becoming leader of the race at Turn 1 thanks to a great start, Fabio lost three places due to a contact. From the fourth position, he started his comeback showing a consistent rhythm and keeping the Top3 pace. The rider from Rome was able to arrive to the Sprint finish line in third place, securing the Sprint podium at Mandalika. Di Giannantonio is now sixth in the World Standing with 237 points.
After securing the direct Q2 on Friday, Morbidelli ended his Qualifying in eleventh place (1’29”790), just four thousandths away from the Top10. Franco had a complicated start from the fourth row and lost four places in the opening lap and was eighteenth at the first stages. From that moment, the Italian-Brazilian rider started his comeback and he recovered ground lap by lap ending his Sprint in fourteenth place. Morbidelli is sixteenth in the World Standing with 57 points.
The Pertamina Indonesian GP will conclude tomorrow with the main race, which will exceptionally start at 3:00 p.m. (local time, +9 UTC).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I am very happy overall; it was a great day with the front row and the third place in the Sprint. During the race, with all the adrenaline, I wanted more because I was seeing the opponents ahead. We had good potential and rhythm; I was able to make good laps. Unfortunately, I couldn’t overtake because, when I was very close to my rival, the tyre was getting too hot and it was too risky to overtake. Without this and the contact at the start of the race, we would have done something more today in the Sprint. Tomorrow it will be another story, but we never give up, we always try to be analytics, and we work to improve more in every area. We’re understanding many things, we’re coming back.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“Today, the Sprint was tough, especially in the first laps, where I lost many places. Unfortunately, I can’t be as fast as I want with new tyres, I need some time to be able to take advantage of all the potential of the package. This penalized me during the Sprint. Then, lap after lap, I bounced back and I could recover some places, but it was too late. The positive thing is that we could improve this area compared to this morning. So, one of tomorrow’s goals will be to make a further step forward to be fast and take advantage of the potential right from the start.”
