Marco Bezzecchi
Yamaha’s talks to sign VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio for the 2027 MotoGP season have reached an advanced stage, as they home in on Jorge Martin’s likely teammate.
The Iwata outfit are expected to field an all-new factory rider line-up in 2027, after deciding not to offer Alex Rins a new contract despite Fabio Quartararo leaving at the end of his deal. It is widely believed that Quartararo has agreed to leave Yamaha for Honda from next term.
Quartararo has been the figurehead of the Yamaha project since he joined their works team in 2021 and won the riders’ title that year. The Frenchman has been the only rider to deliver consistently strong results with the M1, but he lost patience with Yamaha returning to form.
Yamaha moved quickly to lock down Aprilia star Martin as Quartararo’s replacement, as the 2024 champion satisfied their design to sign another top-tier rider. Yamaha are expected to sign Martin for 2027 on a two-year deal, and are now pursuing Di Giannantonio to join him.
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Yamaha and Fabio Di Giannantonio are in ‘fairly advanced’ talks over a 2027 MotoGP move
Yamaha’s interest in signing VR46 rider Di Giannantonio first emerged in February, after they saw Ducati star Francesco Bagnaia favour a transfer to Aprilia for 2027 because of their early issues with the V4 M1. Bagnaia backed out of joining Yamaha after watching them in testing.
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But while Di Giannantonio was surprised by the initial reports of Yamaha’s interest, they are now understood to be in ‘advanced’ talks. That is according to Simon Patterson of The Race, who reports that Di Giannantonio is competing with Honda ace Luca Marini to join Yamaha.
Di Giannantonio and Marini have emerged as Yamaha’s main targets to replace Rins on their second works bike next to Martin next season. They have no ‘ill will’ for Rins, but he has not been able to perform strongly enough with the M1 since he joined the Iwata squad in 2024.
Yamaha’s talks with Di Giannantonio are believed to be ‘fairly advanced’, as he weighs up an opportunity to join a factory team ahead of his works Ducati contract expiring. Ducati chose to keep Di Giannantonio at VR46 in the 2025 and 2026 seasons after signing his works deal.
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Di Giannantonio’s recent form aboard the Ducati GP26 with VR46 has likely helped him gain prominence in Yamaha’s plans. The 27-year-old enjoyed a double-podium performance last week with P2 in the Goiania Sprint and P3 in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as the top Ducati star.
Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez overtook Di Giannantonio to win the Goiania Sprint late on, when the VR46 pilot made a small mistake and ran wide with three laps to go. But roles reversed in the main race, as Di Giannantonio overtook Marquez for P3 in the Brazilian GP.
The rostrum marked Di Giannantonio’s seventh career podium in MotoGP, and also his fifth over the past six rounds after finishing P2 in Australia and P3 in Valencia last term. Marini is yet to add to his two podiums since he left VR46 to replace Marquez at Honda back in 2024.
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