FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO SAYS AUSTRIAN GP WEEKEND TOOK THE WRONG DIRECTION AFTER NINTH

Fabio di Giannantonio described his Austrian Grand Prix weekend at the Red Bull Ring as a rare misstep, admitting that despite having a bike that “was working OK” there was a fundamental problem in direction rather than execution. The Pertamina Enduro VR46 Ducati rider ended the race weekend outside the fight for the front, finishing ninth in the grand prix—after qualifying and the Sprint left him “at the tail end of the top ten.”

Di Giannantonio’s final result left him 15 seconds behind KTM winner Pedro Acosta, and it marked what he called his toughest MotoGP weekend of the season in performance terms. Speaking after the race, he said the issue was not a lack of competitiveness in every session, but that the team’s development path had gone the wrong way.

“I like this track… I think we just did a wrong weekend,” di Giannantonio said. “This weekend the bike was working OK, in terms of issues, everything was fine, but I think we went in the wrong direction yesterday.”

He added that the Red Bull Ring demands progress from day to day, and that a backward step is especially costly in MotoGP. “In MotoGP today, you cannot do a weekend where you go backwards,” he said.

While the Italian acknowledged that Ducati riders appeared to struggle with the stiffer-construction rear tyre casing used during the event, he rejected the idea that it alone explained his lack of pace. “I did the pole position with this casing in Goiania, second in the Sprint and the grand prix podium,” he pointed out, referencing earlier success with the same tyre specification.

From his perspective, the gap came down to relative performance rather than a single technical excuse. “We had a decent bike but not enough to be there fighting. So I think we just did a wrong weekend, honestly,” he said. He then summarised the competitive picture bluntly: “I think the others just worked better, they did a better job than me, than us.”

Di Giannantonio’s Austrian weekend also came without the distraction of a crash, yet it produced his worst points haul of the season. That made the contrast with Acosta even sharper: while di Giannantonio was forced to settle for mid-pack points, Acosta celebrated a long-awaited maiden MotoGP grand prix victory.

The result has wider implications for the championship fight. Di Giannantonio entered the next round at Motegi with Acosta having taken fourth in the standings by just four points. The Austrian GP therefore not only underlined the KTM rider’s breakthrough, but also highlighted how quickly the title chase can swing when one weekend doesn’t deliver the expected step forward.

Di Giannantonio’s comments also reflected on the emotional side of winning and the momentum that follows it. In a separate quote included in the reporting, he described how victory changes everything for the rider: “When you win, it's like you are the ‘lightest’ person in the world. It's amazing.” He said the feeling can drive intense motivation immediately after the race, adding that it left him wanting to train and ride again.

Looking ahead, di Giannantonio is set to move to Acosta’s current KTM team in 2027, a future that makes the current title battle even more personal. For now, though, he will be focused on correcting what he believes was a wrong direction during the build-up to Sunday—because, as he put it, in MotoGP you cannot afford a weekend where the bike’s progress goes the wrong way.