Fabio Di Giannantonio claimed the third place in the Sprint of the Italian GP, securing his third Sprint podium of the season after a come back. Unlucky Saturday for Morbidelli, who crashed at lap five.
The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team celebrates another Sprint podium on Saturday of the Italian GP thanks to Fabio Di Giannantonio’s third place. On home soil, the rider from Roma got his third Sprint podium of the season after a come back. Unlucky day for Morbidelli, who crashed al lap five.
It was a rising Saturday for Di Giannantonio, who finished qualifying in seventh place (1’44”498). However, a strong start from the third row allowed him to immediately join the battle at the front in the Sprint. Fabio showed a solid pace throughout all the eleven laps, making an impressive come back into the podium positions. The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team rider crossed the finish line in third place, consolidating his position in Top 3 in the World Standing with 123 points.
Only bad luck stopped Morbidelli on Saturday at Mugello, after he was ninth in Qualifying (1’44”655). A difficult start from the third row forced Franco to fight his way back toward the front. While attempting to recover positions, the Italian-Brazilian rider crashed on lap five while running in fifteenth place. Morbidelli sits fifteenth in the World Standing with 36 points.
The Italian GP will conclude tomorrow with the main race, scheduled to start at 14:00 (local time).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“After today’s difficult Qualifying, we needed to bounce back and show our true potential. In the Sprint, I wanted to be more aggressive in the opening laps and close the gap to the riders at the front. Unfortunately, even if I was the fastest rider on track, starting further back meant I had to recover positions, and we did our very best to reach the podium. Of course, it’s great to achieve a strong result when you start from the front rows, but it’s even more satisfying when you start further back and fight your way through the field: you become the come back rider! We need to keep working on our starts because sometimes I have brilliant starts, while other times not so much. Today it went really well, and the goal is to get another good start in Sunday’s race. It won’t be easy to do it again tomorrow because the riders ahead are very fast. But we believe in ourselves, I’m feeling good, and we’ll push to achieve the best result possible.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“It was a disappointing Sprint because I got a poor start and found myself far back in the opening laps. Unfortunately, when you’re in the group, you don’t have clean air ahead of you and everything becomes more difficult. Then I lost the front at Turn 10 and I crashed. It’s a pity because this morning our pace was the third fastest. I was very confident for the Sprint and was aiming for a strong start so I could set my pace. Now we need to reset and prepare properly for tomorrow. The tyre choice will be crucial, the riders at the front were very competitive on the medium tyres, so we’ll see.”
