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Motorsport

Richard Asher

Unravelling Fabio Di Giannantonio's crashes at the MotoGP German GP

Di Giannantonio Fabio di Giannantonio VR46 Jorge Martin Ducati Sachsenring (Facility)

Up until last Sunday, Fabio Di Giannantonio had finished every grand prix in the 2026 season, coming home inside the top six on all but one occasion.

His consistency had kept him well in touch with the championship lead, allowing him to head into raceday at the Sachsenring in third spot, just 13 points shy of Jorge Martin.

Di Giannantonio also had third place in the grid, which teed him up for another good points haul at the very least - particularly important with Martin starting behind him. But Sunday in Germany had something else in store for the Roman, who fell off his Ducati twice and dropped to fifth in the standings.

The first shock came in the warm-up, when the winner of May's Catalan Grand Prix suffered a high-speed tumble at Turn 8. His explanation of that crash was a little cryptic.

"I was trying a better line and actually it was working really good throughout the warm-up.

"On that lap I did even better... but with the set-up that we have, we discovered one thing that we didn't know before. And for that reason I was too much on the limit on the rear and I lost it."

Later in the day, Di Giannantonio only managed three laps in the grand prix before falling off at another quick left-hander, Turn 10. He was running fifth at the time.

Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing Team (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

Regarding the race accident, the 27-year-old was unable to explain what had gone wrong.

"We're still trying to understand exactly what happened. Because we saw the data, and it's exactly a photocopy of the lap before. Exactly everything, the suspension, speed, angle... throttle. So it's a bit strange.

"But you know, it's also part of the game. Sometimes you crash and you don't really know why and it's a mix of things. It's the first [grand prix] mistake of the year... statistically it had to happen!"

Some observers questioned Di Giannantonio's decision to switch to the 2026 Ducati rear aerodynamics for the warm-up, suggesting it was a risky move on the morning of an important grand prix.

Di Giannantonio, who retained the aero for his short-lived race despite the warm-up crash, defended his decision when quizzed about it by media after the race.

"Well, you know, we had a really great bike from yesterday. So we thought that maybe it wasn't a big gamble to try it in the warm-up. If we thought that it was not the right thing to do, we could go back and we would still have a potential podium bike. So we were not that worried.

"Actually it was a little better this morning, so we decided to continue with it [for the race]."

Speaking on the grid ahead of his rider's ill-fated grand prix, VR46 team manager Pablo Nieto said the aero switch had been no big deal.

"Why not? The difference is just a little bit. It was just to do something a little bit different, but nothing changed in the end. Diggia preferred to do it like this and we agreed because the difference is minimal."