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There could not have been a better comeback from the summer break for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing team, which on the very day it announced it would become Factory Supported Team Ducati from 2025 closed FP2 by hitting Q2 with both of its standard bearers. A more than positive Friday then for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who in addition to having signed the sixth time saw Davide Tardozzi surprisingly reveal the scenario that awaits him next season.
"It was a good day. In my opinion we went strong today and did a good job. It was not obvious to start again with the potential we have shown so far, and I am happy to be close to the leaders, going strong both on the race pace and in the time attack. We are still missing something to be really with the first ones, however we are going strong, even if we are really at the limit with the GP23," said the Roman, trying to gloss over the future topic.
Topic from which Diggia could not escape and wanted to touch with lead feet.
"I always said that the plan for next year would be to have a totally different goal and try to insert myself in the title fight. That's definitely the goal, but I think we'll have to wait for the official announcements from the various teams because really until then everything can change. Even in the last minutes, as we've seen so many times before," he noted, " I'm focusing on the track, on doing the best I can with this bike, to try to have the best possible situation for next year, but what I can say is that as far as I'm concerned the decision has already been made and my staff is working to finalize it. This time I will not wait for Valencia, but I think we will have to wait a few more days for an announcement because we are still missing some details. We are working for the future, but nothing is done at the moment."
Although Fabio does not want to take it for granted just yet that he will be riding a Ducati GP25 next season, he cannot help but note how drastically his situation has changed in the past year, in which he has gone from having one foot out of MotoGP to having one on an official bike.
"I'm very proud of my path and honored that so many manufacturers have taken an interest in me, " he said, " It means I'm doing a good job and that focusing on myself has worked. It's great and it was also one of my goals to be wanted by the factory teams and to be able to try to ride and fight with the best bike. Of course, last year I would have signed with my blood to be in this situation. Sometimes life is amazing: you are the only man who can change your future and that's what I did."
Not everything, however, went as Di Giannantonio would have hoped, who will have to do without his chief technician David Munoz in 2025, when he will join Alex Rins at Yamaha.
"It's a pity because I would have loved to continue with my team in case I stayed in VR46, " he admitted, " It was part of my decision to have this kind of continuity, because I think it makes you stronger. In any case, I think the VR46 team will choose the best people. Especially now that it will receive official support."
Always looking to the future, the VR46 standard bearer spoke about his possible participation in the Suzuka 8 Hours: "I'm pushing a lot, because I would love to run that race. It is one of the items on my bucket list and it would be great to race there with Ducati."
Speaking instead about expectations for tomorrow, he added, "It will depend a lot on the temperature, including the time attack. This year we finish sixth both when we go really strong and when we go a little less, so we will aim to do a little better than that. I'm struggling to do the lap of my life because we're really on the limit with this bike, but we'll work on the details this afternoon to try to file down a few tenths. As for the front tire, I tried both medium and hard today, but without noticing too much difference. That could be good since it should be a little cooler tomorrow, but the downside is that so you don't know which one to choose. Tomorrow I'll try to figure out which one is best."
Bezzecchi: "A good result, despite the problems."
Like his boxmate, Marco Bezzecchi also ended Friday with a good result, finishing ninth. However, not everything went smoothly for the Romagnolo, who also suffered a technical problem at the start of FP2.
"The result is good, that was the goal, but the background is particular because there were a lot of problems, both this morning and this afternoon. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test the pace well because they caused me to lose a lot of time, forcing me to have very short runs. I' m happy to be in Q2, but on the pace there will still be a lot of work to do," told Marco, who on the engine problem added, "I carried the bike as long as it went, but I don't know what happened."
Despite the problems, Bez can still be satisfied with the way his weekend opened.
"The previous races were not easy, so it was definitely what was needed. A Friday is worth nothing, but it's still a Friday that we hadn't been able to do the past few times, so I'm happy ," he said, "I'm very motivated and I knew I could do well. I didn't know what to expect, whether Q2 or not, but I was convinced I could arrive here with the right charge."
Speaking instead about the choice of tires for tomorrow, he said, "The key will be the temperatures. I have tried all three tires and if I had to choose now I would choose the hard one, but to use it you need certain temperatures that are not necessarily there. I already have an idea of what the alternative might be, but tomorrow I want to do more laps to understand better."
Automatic Translation by DeepL
