Fabio Di Giannantonio is enjoying the best start to a MotoGP season in his career to date, with the VR46 rider sitting fifth in the championship standings with 99 points.
The 26-year-old has even returned to the rostrum for the first time since 2023 this year after penning third in the Americas Grand Prix in March. Di Giannantonio had not made a podium in 21 races before heading for the Circuit of the Americas, where he also qualified in second.
VR46 have also seen the Italian get a top-10 finish in all but one of the opening eight Grands Prix in the 2025 MotoGP season. The only time he has failed to finish in the top 10 this term came when Gresini star Alex Marquez crashed into Di Giannantonio in the Qatar Grand Prix.
Fabio Di Giannantonio ‘didn’t like’ bigger brake discs on his Ducati GP25 unlike Francesco Bagnaia
Di Giannantonio has fallen away from the podium pack in more recent rounds, however. The Roman has finished each of the last three Grands Prix in P8 or P9, leading VR46 boss Uccio Salucci to believe Di Giannantonio struggles braking on his Ducati GP25 as the fork drops.
VR46 took advantage of the post-race test after the Aragon Grand Prix on Monday to try and help Di Giannantonio improve his feel while braking. But while Francesco Bagnaia benefited from Ducati changing his front brake discs for the Aragon GP, Di Giannantonio did not like it.
“It’s a different feeling on the brake lever itself,” he said, via Crash. “But it was not giving us that much confidence or feedback from the front. It was just different. And also from the balance of the bike itself, we didn’t like it that much, so we switched back to our package.”
READ MORE: Everything to know about Fabio Di Giannantonio from net worth to AS Roma
VR46’s Di Giannantonio copied factory Ducati rider Bagnaia by going from the 340mm front brake discs to 355mm discs for the Aragon test. But he insists their riding styles and set-ups are too different to feel the same things, so they should switch bikes to get a clearer picture.
Di Giannantonio added: “Our riding styles are quite different, also the position on the bike. And if you see our set-ups, they are not so similar. It’s difficult to say my feeling is the same as Pecco’s. We should swap the bikes to understand!”
Fabio Di Giannantonio will hope VR46 can improve his feel with the front of the GP25
VR46 ace Di Giannantonio is the only rider other than the factory Ducati duo of Bagnaia and Marc Marquez using the Desmosedici GP25 in the 2025 MotoGP season. But he has not had anywhere near the success that Marquez has enjoyed to lead the standings with 233 points.
Marquez is proving what the GP25 is truly capable of with Bagnaia and Di Giannantonio still adapting to Ducati’s longer front fork on their 2025 MotoGP bike. The longer front fork has been a major reason for why Bagnaia only has 140 points to Marquez’s 233 so far this term.
But Di Giannantonio wants to try Ducati’s upgraded chassis that Marquez received back at the French Grand Prix. The Borgo Panigale natives initially only gave the six-time champion their updated frame, with 115-race Bagnaia and 65-race Di Giannantonio both left without.
