These are years of great satisfaction for Italian motorcycling. In addition to the dominator Francesco Bagnaia, behind him there are other Italian riders who keep our flag high in the World Championship. One of these is Fabio Di Giannantonio: a budding talent, who probably had the turning point of his career last year and who is called upon to confirm himself in the World Cup currently underway.
The beginnings
Di Giannantonio was born in Rome on October 10, 1998. His parents Ivan and Sonia live in the Eur district and his is a family with sport in its DNA. If "Diggia" shows a passion for two wheels from an early age, his brother Luca (5 years younger) has a talent for football so much so that he currently plays in Serie D with the Boreale shirt. Fabio takes his first steps on the track with minibikes in Casal Palocco. In 2009 he was European junior minibike champion, while a year later he won second place on the podium of the Honda HIRP 100 Trophy (won by the young Manuel Doria from Livorno).
In 2012 he won the Italian 250 cm³ PreGP title, then participating in the Italian Moto3 championship where he finished tenth in 2013. It was a year of transition, which was followed by a championship closed in eighth place. In 2015 he was second in the Italian speed championship, Moto3 category, thanks to two victories. In the same year he took part in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, taking three victories and second place in the final standings. It was the prelude to his debut in the World Championship.
The arrival in Moto3 and the move to Moto2
He made his debut in the Moto3 class of the world championship in 2015, racing in the GP of the Valencian Community as a replacement rider aboard a Honda NSF250R of the Gresini Racing team.
In 2016 he remained in the same team, with teammate Enea Bastianini. He scored his first championship points and his first podium at the Italian Grand Prix, after also leading the race for a few laps. It was repeated at Assen, a race that saw two other Italians on the podium: Francesco Bagnaia and Andrea Migno. In the Czech Republic he finished third in the rain. He finished fourth at Aragon, fifth in Japan and fifth. He ended the season in 6th place in the drivers' standings with 134 points to his credit.
In 2017 he was again the regular rider of the Del Conca Gresini team, his teammate was Jorge Martín. During the pre-season tests in Valencia he suffered a fractured collarbone, which however did not preclude him from participating in the first race of the season in Qatar, where he finished in eighth position, also setting the fastest lap. In Austin, in the GP of the Americas, he reached third place, which he repeated in France. In the Italian Grand Prix he finished on the second step of the podium. After a subdued central part of the championship, he returned to the podium in the San Marino GP with a third place in the rain. In the next race, at Aragon, the Roman rider took his fifth podium of the season with second place behind Mir and for the second time in the season he went on the podium for two races in a row. He ended the season in fifth place in the drivers' standings with 153 points, improving by one position what he did the year before.
2018 is his third year in Moto3, always with Team Gresini. After two seasons of training, he can finally fight for the title. It is a fratricidal clash, as he has to duel with teammate Martin. In the end it will be the Spaniard who prevails, despite the first two victories in this category won by "Diggia" (in the Czech Republic and Thailand). However, the doors of Moto2 opened for the Roman rider, where he raced for three seasons. Years with more shadows than lights, the first two with the Speed Up team and the third riding a Kalex. The season just mentioned, closed in seventh place, is the best of the three and earns him the definitive leap in quality.
"Diggia" in MotoGP
In 2022 Di Giannantonio made his debut in the MotoGP class riding a Ducati Desmosedici of the Gresini Racing team; his teammate is Enea Bastianini. The impact is not the best, with eighth place in Germany as the best placement and twentieth place in the final ranking. Things did not go better in the following season, at least in the first part. "Diggia", however, does not give up and closes on a crescendo: among his last races, the third place in Australia and above all the first in Qatar should be mentioned. He finished the World Championship in twelfth place, promising himself to improve in the 2024 World Championship (which he faced by separating from the Gresini team but remaining in the Ducati orbit, signing for the VR46 Racing team). For the moment there are no podiums yet, but the team believes in him and the boy wants to repay this trust. Maybe staying on track in the bad moments as well as in the good ones like the idol Troy Bayliss, whom he admired in his father's videotapes and whom he wanted to pay homage to using his number and that is 21.
2024 season and outlook for 2025
Fabio Di Giannantonio's 2024 season has been characterized by a certain swing of results, with moments of brilliance alternating with difficulties in adapting to the VR46 team's GP23 Ducati . After a positive end to the season in 2023, in which he took one win and several podium finishes, 2024 started with some technical difficulties. However, Di Giannantonio is confident that he can improve as the season evolves, aware of his ability to push the bike to the maximum Fabio Di Giannantonio has officially signed a two-year contract with Ducati, which will see him continue to race in the VR46 team until 2026.
In 2025 and 2026, "Diggia" will have an official bike Ducati Desmosedici GP at its disposal, identical to that of factory riders such as Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Márquez. This is a great opportunity for him, who will be equipped with the best technology available and will have the goal of competing for the podium and, potentially, for the title.
