Marco Bezzecchi
Fabio Di Giannantonio will take a big step forward in his MotoGP career in 2025, with the VR46 Racing Team rider jumping from a Ducati Desmosedici GP23 onto the GP25.
The Italian is one of only three riders who will enjoy the newest specification Ducati bike this season with factory pilots Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez. It is a big step for the 26-year-old and comes as Di Giannantonio signed a works Ducati contract for 2025 and 2026.
Until now, Di Giannantonio had always raced on a year-old bike since debuting in MotoGP in 2022 with Ducati’s other satellite team Gresini. He moved to VR46 last year and achieved his career-best spot in the riders’ championship, as the Rome native came 10th with 165 points.
Fabio Di Giannantonio sees similarities in Marc Marquez’s throttle data at Ducati
Marquez took up Di Giannantonio’s Ducati GP23 at Gresini for the 2024 season after the six-time MotoGP champion quit Honda. His performances on the year-old bike even saw Ducati snub promoting Jorge Martin to sign Marquez as Bagnaia’s teammate from the 2025 season.
The 31-year-old convinced the Borgo Panigale brand with his rapid adaption to a Ducati bike after racing Honda machines exclusively since his MotoGP debut in 2013. He ended up with three race wins at Gresini, and Marquez and Bagnaia will likely now fight for a MotoGP title.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Valentino Rossi’s VR46 from current riders to bike
While Di Giannantonio could not hand VR46 any Grand Prix victories on his GP23 last year, the Italian did note similarities in his and Marquez’s data having studied what the Spaniard produced on the same bike. So, Diggia now feels he has traits akin to Marquez and Bagnaia.
“In 2023, I was really a hard braker and I was comparable to Pecco,” Di Giannantonio told Crash. “But with the bike of last year, it was much more difficult for me to do it.
“And since Marc joined Ducati when I was checking his data, the particular thing is in the way we use the throttle, we were quite similar. So, I have something of each one.”
Matching Pecco’s braking ability may prove more crucial for Diggia’s 2025 campaign
Di Giannantonio will no doubt hope that having the same factory-spec GP25 bike as both of the works Ducati riders in 2025 allows the VR46 racer to regularly show his similarities with Marquez and Bagnaia. VR46 teammate Franco Morbidelli will race a GP24 bike this season.
Pecco is often considered to be one of the best MotoGP riders under braking, making it very challenging to overtake the Ducati rider. So, if Diggia can now get back level with Bagnaia on a GP25 bike after jumping straight from Ducati’s 2023 machine, he could be in the mix again.
Having the same throttle-use style as Marquez is a great arrow to have in Di Giannantonio’s quiver. But it may prove more crucial to be able to maximise the 2025 Ducati bike’s braking potential for the VR46 rider to win only his second Grand Prix after the Qatar meet in 2023.
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