DI GIANNANTONIO’S INDONESIAN GP ENDS WITH FRONT-TYRE DAMAGE

Fabio di Giannantonio’s strong Indonesian Grand Prix weekend ended with a front-tyre problem that cost him a likely fight near the front and left him relieved to reach the finish.

The VR46 Ducati rider had qualified on the front row as the fastest Ducati and finished third in Saturday’s Sprint. In Sunday’s 27-lap race, he slipped to sixth early on but was among the quickest riders on track by lap 12. He was settling into his pace and preparing to push when the trouble began at Turn 10.

“I was there doing my rhythm, with calm, because I knew the race was long,” he said. “So I said, ‘OK, now it’s time to push, it’s time to do 1'30.2, 1'30.2’, and that’s when in Turn 10 I got a massive lock on the front and after that, my race was finished.”

The front lock was followed by severe vibrations as the tyre deteriorated. Di Giannantonio said there had been no warning beforehand. Inspection revealed a hole in the front tyre, and he dropped to eighth by the chequered flag.

“The front tyre started to destroy itself and we got massive vibrations,” he said. “We were super lucky to not crash and finish the race. We discovered there was a hole in the front tyre.”

Despite the late setback, the Italian took encouragement from a weekend in which he had shown strong speed against the Aprilias, which were particularly competitive. “I think it has been one of the best weekends of this year. Front row, then yesterday the podium with these Aprilias that are so strong,” he said. “I think we really showed good speed again. So I’m really happy.”

He added that the tyre issue was part of racing and said the team could still be proud of its overall performance. Di Giannantonio remains sixth in the championship, between Trackhouse Aprilia riders Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez.