{"id":640674,"date":"2026-04-30T14:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640674\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T14:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:04:10","slug":"plan-a-is-to-keep-di-giannantonio-for-motogp-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640674\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Plan A’ is to keep di Giannantonio for MotoGP 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retaining Fabio di Giannantonio<\/a> to partner new recruit Fermin Aldeguer<\/a> at VR46\u00a0next season is Plan A for the satellite Ducati squad, says team director Alessio\u00a0Salucci.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Aldeguer’s signing for 2027 is an open secret and remains only to be officially confirmed, di Giannantonio has admitted there is plenty of interest in his services following a strong start to the current season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We are doing a really good job on track and it reflects for the future for sure, with a lot of teams that want me on their side, let’s say,” he remarked after his third-place finish at the Spanish Grand\u00a0Prix. “This is amazing, you know, as a human before a rider… it means that you are doing a good job. We still have everything open, honestly… I’m pleased about the interest around.”<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to Autosport two days earlier, his current boss was clear that VR46 wanted to win any fight for di Giannantonio’s services.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, [the interest in di Giannantonio] makes me very happy,” said Salucci. “I remember two years ago when we signed him – there wasn\u2019t much interest in him. We believed in him, and now he\u2019s a hot property, which is great.<\/p>\n

“On the other hand, it makes things more complicated. He\u2019s our priority, and we\u2019re trying to build an offer that matches the di Giannantonio of today – both technically and financially. We hope to succeed and that he chooses to stay with us for the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Uccio <\/p>\n

Uccio Salucci, Team Director VR46 Racing Team<\/p>\n

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography \/ LAT Images \/ via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Salucci was happy to elaborate on the alternatives should di Giannantonio not stick around to partner the incoming Aldeguer. These also included retaining the struggling Franco Morbidelli<\/a>, claimed the Italian.<\/p>\n

“Everything is possible,” he said. “We have a Plan B, C, and D. As I said, ‘Diggia’ is our priority and I\u2019d be disappointed to move to Plan B, but in this sport you always need alternatives.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s Luca Marini<\/a> \u2013 we don\u2019t know if he\u2019ll stay at Honda. You never know with Morbidelli either \u2013 we\u2019re working a lot with him. I like [Moto2 rider] Celestino Vietti<\/a>, he\u2019s close to my heart. And why not [World Superbike Championship leader and Ducati MotoGP test rider] Nicolo Bulega<\/a> as well? There are many situations we\u2019re keeping open.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s an exciting but delicate moment \u2013 we\u2019re working hard because the decisions we make now will influence the coming years. We hope to make the right choice, but of course we hope Diggia stays with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

While stopping just short of officially confirming Aldeguer’s signature on a VR46 contract, Salucci made no secret of his admiration for the young Spaniard currently racing with Gresini Ducati.<\/p>\n

“For me, he\u2019s a top rider,” he said. “He\u2019s already won [a grand prix], he\u2019s young and he has many qualities. He\u2019s not with us yet, but I hope we can finalise the deal in the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

\"Fermin <\/p>\n

Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Mirco Lazzari GP \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

“We really want him. We tried before, but he was with a Moto2 team and we didn\u2019t want to create issues. So we waited, hoping to sign him later \u2013 and hopefully that\u2019s what will happen.”<\/p>\n

Salucci also revealed a regret from recent rider negotiations: failing to land the services of Pedro Acosta<\/a> for 2027, as he will join the factory Ducati squad.<\/p>\n

“I do regret it. [Acosta] and Fermin are among the most talented young riders \u2013 the future of MotoGP,” he said. “We would have loved to have Pedro with us, but there were contracts and a complicated situation around him. It just didn\u2019t work out.”<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Giacomo Rauli<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retaining Fabio di Giannantonio to partner new recruit Fermin Aldeguer at VR46\u00a0next season is Plan A for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,224629,5745,806,805,803,804,254732,85,310244],"class_list":["post-640674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-circuito-de-jerez","tag-motogp","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-spanish-gp","tag-sports","tag-vr46-plan-a-is-to-keep-di-giannantonio-for-motogp-2027"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}