Fabio Di Giannantonio secures the second place and gets the podium in the Sprint of the Qatar GP, affected by a red flag. Franco Morbidelli is fourteenth.

Fabio Di Giannantonio ended his Saturday night of the Qatar GP on a positive note: at the Lusail International Circuit, he shone and secured the second place, taking the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team on the Sprint podium despite a difficult Sprint due to a red flag. It was a more difficult day for Franco Morbidelli, who crossed the finish line in fourteenth place.

After securing a third place in the Qualifying (1’50”327), Di Giannantonio had a good start from the front row and was able to stay in the podium fight right from the opening stages. Fabio confirmed to be fast and competitive in the second start after the red flag, as he got to stay in the Top3. The rider from Rome made a great overtake at the last lap and he took the second place, which he kept until the chequered flag securing a Sprint podium at Lusail. Di Giannantonio is sixth in the World Standing with 274 points, just 7 points away from the Top5.

It was a more complicated day for Morbidelli, who ended the Qualifying in thirteenth place (1’51”271). Franco started from the fifth row and fought to recover positions and to get closer to the Top10 before the race was red flagged. At the second start, the Italian-Brazilian rider lost two positions and started his comeback from the fifteenth place. Despite a difficult Sprint, Franco didn’t lose faith and got to recover a position at the fourth lap and hold on to it until the chequered flag, finishing in fourteenth place. Morbidelli is sixteenth in the World Standing with 65 points.

The Qatar GP will conclude tomorrow with the main race, which will start at 7 p.m. (local time, +3 UTC) for the only night race of the season.

FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“I am very happy and we must be proud of our Sprint. After the red flag, I was a bit disappointed because we just had a medium tyre available for the restart. So, we knew that I had to go all-in at the start without managing and trying to have a great performance. So it was! Especially at the first stages, I was losing a bit in the exit of the cornet due to the different tyres compared to my rivals. Moreover, I always had a rider ahead of me and this made the temperature very high on the front. So, I had to manage a lot these areas, it wasn’t easy, but we did a great job. For tomorrow, we will do our best! We know that we can be fast, but the opponents are strong too here. I am sure they will give their maximum, so it will be a good fight.”

FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“It was a difficult Sprint, I was behind another rider, but I wasn’t fast enough to overtake him. I struggle to find the speed I want. Unfortunately, this morning in the Qualifying we missed something to get the Q2, and in the race we were quite far from the top riders. I am sorry, but we did our best today too and we will never give up. We keep pushing until the end and we will give our 100% to make other steps forward.”