Marco Bezzecchi
Fabio Di Giannantonio suffered a major setback to his 2025 preparations in Sepang. The Italian broke his collarbone in a crash in Sepang.
The VR46 rider had his 2024 season curtailed early due to a huge crash in practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. Dislocating his shoulder, Di Giannantonio missed the final two races to undergo surgery.
Di Giannantonio had been recovering strongly ahead of the 2025 season. The 26-year-old will race with a factory Ducati bike this year alongside Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia.
But the Italian’s pre-season came to an abrupt halt after crashing on day one of testing in Sepang. He had been attempting a wheelie when he fell and broke his collarbone.
The bizarre incident left Di Giannantonio requiring another operation. Subsequently, he was ruled out of the rest of the test in Malaysia.
Pablo Nieto says VR46 stopped Fabio Di Giannantonio from testing in Buriram after his Sepang crash
VR46 wished Di Giannantonio well after his accident as he was taken to hospital. Defending champion Jorge Martin had been to hospital earlier in the day after suffering a violent highside at turn one.
VR46 team manager Pablo Nieto says the Italian has an ‘impressive desire’ to return to MotoGP action. But the team want to take things cautiously with Diggia.
Speaking with GPOne, Nieto revealed that he stopped the 26-year-old from testing in Buriram. VR46 want him ‘as fit as possible’ for the first race in Thailand.
“That p—– me off a lot because we knew that we could do it very, very well with him. In fact first day of testing that he did in Malaysia after three months without riding having had the injury that he had, an operation, he never touched a bike.
“And immediately he was very competitive. Unfortunately what happened has happened and we have to look forward and he is really, very charged. He has an impressive desire to come back.
“We had to stop him so as not to do these tests here because we think that it is much more important that he arrives at the first race as fit as possible, for sure than not arriving at 100%.”
Franco Morbidelli impressed for VR46 in testing in Fabio Di Giannantonio’s absence
With Diggia out injured, VR46 had to rely on Franco Morbidelli for the rest of testing. The fellow Italian joined the team from Pramac at the end of 2024.
Riding the now-year-old GP24, Morbidelli was one of the standout riders along with Alex Marquez for Ducati. He topped the time sheets on day two in Sepang, four tenths quicker than factory rider Bagnaia.
The performance of the GP24 led Ducati to change their approach for 2025, opting to run with the 2024 engine in the GP25 this season. Morbidelli was instructed to test the 2025 engine to help the manufacturer’s decision.
Morbidelli says victories are ‘definitely’ possible in the early stages of 2025. The 30-year-old is searching for his first win in MotoGP since 2020.
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