Fabio Di Giannantonio did not hide his satisfaction at finishing in the top 10 at the Thailand Grand Prix after several complicated months.
"I came here with zero testing, no knowledge of the bike and a sore shoulder, so I think we did a great job", summarized Fabio Di Giannantonio à GP One at the finish of the 26-lap race on Sunday at the Buriram circuit. The Italian took the checkered flag in tenth position, a more than encouraging result considering the time he has spent away from the track in recent months.
As a reminder, By Giannantonio injured his left shoulder last summer and required surgery at the end of the season to stabilise it, forcing him to miss the last two Grands Prix and the Barcelona test in November. After three months without riding his Ducati, he started the first official pre-season test at Sepang in early February without being 100% fit.
At the end of the first day, he fell while doing a wheelie and fractured his left collarbone. Having undergone another operation, he missed the rest of the winter tests and arrived in Thailand without having really been able to get to grips with the new version of his machine, in addition to still being bothered by his shoulder.
"Many people might say it's just my collarbone but I haven't been able to train properly for six or seven months because last year [I already had problems] and I was injured for seven races.", he clarified. "I had surgery and I was blocked again for two months and as soon as I was able to recover a little I had to have surgery again."
“Today’s potential was a bit higher and maybe I could have stayed with [Bezzecchi], but halfway through the race I couldn’t do it anymore. Physically I was exhausted, I was riding compensating a lot with my legs and the other arm, but with a MotoGP you have to be at your maximum to be fast so overall I’m really happy.”
If he had to abandon the sprint race the day before because of the burns caused by his motorbike, this time the VR46 pilot was able "better management" but still has no real answer to what caused them: "We tried to find solutions that helped me a little but today the heat was less noticeable on the bike and we have to understand why."
Now he will focus on his recovery in order to return even more physically prepared to Argentina in two weeks, where he hopes to be able to play more up front. "You must have seen me a lot with the physiotherapist in recent days, but it wasn't for my left shoulder, it was to relieve the right arm which is overcompensating", he explained. "I'm going back to recover and to train to rebuild the muscle."
Thailand Grand Prix Results :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
