Fabio di Giannantonio completed a weekend of thirds at Jerez, qualifying and finishing the Spanish MotoGP in that position to also take over third in the world championship.
The VR46 rider was particularly satisfied to carry his early-season form into the opening European round.
“I’m super happy, super proud of what we’re doing in this first part of the season. I think we made a clear step on our communication and our method of work,” he said.
“There is this little legend that when you get to Europe, the championship starts for real and we’ve been able to be fast also here in Jerez.
“It’s not been my best track in my career, so I’m super happy about what we’re doing.”
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di Giannantonio dropped to fifth on the opening lap, which became fourth after Marc Marquez crashed out.
He then passed Jorge Martin on lap four to secure a podium position he kept to the finish.
Alex Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio di Giannantonio, 2026 Spanish MotoGP.
© Gold and Goose
“Remove this understeer”
The Italian admitted his only regret was switching away from a revised set-up used in the Sprint, which may have helped address ongoing understeer issues.
“During these races, I suffered a little bit of understeer with this bike. And yesterday for the sprint, we found something that was a little better,” he explained.
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“But then this morning in warm-up, I tried again my [normal] base set-up, and the feeling was much better than the sprint.
“So I followed the feeling of this morning, but then this afternoon was a little worse!
“We need to analyse and understand what we can do to remove this little understeer.”
2026 Spanish MotoGP Race Lap Times: Top 6 riders.
© Peter McLaren
Understeer proved particularly costly at Jerez, a circuit that places heavy demands on the front tyre.
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“We have many tracks where you can only focus on [saving] the rear tyre, basically, because that’s what drops the most,” he said.
“Here it’s a bit different because in my case, I always suffer with the front here.
“Because the track is smaller, you have to be super precise. If you have a bigger track, you can gain and lose time here and there.
“Here is like a kart track, let’s say, you have to be super precise. Everything counts.”
di Giannantonio will remain at Jerez for Monday’s official test before heading to Le Mans, aiming to reduce a 30-point deficit to championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.
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