The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team ended the Friday of the Thailand GP in third place with Fabio Di Giannantonio, who gains a direct spot in Q2. Thirteenth place for Franco Morbidelli.
Ready, go! The 2026 MotoGP campaign started today at the Chang International Circuit and the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team hit the track for the two Friday sessions of the Thailand GP. It was a positive Day 1 for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who always was in the top places, ending the Practice in third place and gaining a spot directly in Q2. Franco Morbidelli ended his Friday in thirteenth place.
Great start to the season for Di Giannantonio, who had a solid performance in his first day of the race weekend. Fabio ended FP1 in second place, confirming his good pace in the afternoon session: despite the risk of rain, the rider from Rome improved his laptime in Practice, being on top of the timesheet mostly of the time and ending the day in third place. With his best reference in 1’29”010, Di Giannantonio gained a direct spot in Q2.
Solid day for Morbidelli too, who improved his best laptime from the morning to the afternoon session. Franco, who was eight in FP1, improved is best lap in Practice, where he had a 1’29”624. The Italian-Brazilian rider missed the Q2 just for 52 thousandths, ending his Friday at Buriram in thirteenth place and he will have to go through Q1.
The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team is back on track on Saturday for qualifying, which will start at 10:50 am (local time, +6 CET). The Sprint will follow at 3:00 pm (local time). The Thailand Grand Prix will end with Sunday’s race, scheduled to start at 3:00 pm (local time).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO
“It’s a great start to the season, for sure. But it’s just the beginning of the campaign, it’s still Friday and we must continue to be focused. Today, we confirmed that what we did in Malaysia and Thailand tests were good. Also, I’m happy that all the analysis and ideas for the weekend are working so far. We were able to do a great lap today, but it’s still not enough, and we will try to improve even more tomorrow. We don’t have any specific expectation for Saturday, we just want to continue working like this and keep having this feeling with the bike.”
FRANCO MORBIDELLI
“We were quite unlucky when we made our time attack: we decided to do it earlier because the weather was becoming dark. But, in the moment we went out, the conditions were the worst. In the second time attack, I was riding with the track half wet, and then I made my best lap time with the rear medium tyre. I missed the Q2 just for 52 thousandths, we just missed some luck. But the feeling and the speed are very good, so overall I’m happy and we have the potential to be in Q2. The goal is this tomorrow.”
