Last year’s Qatar Grand Prix winner found refuge at Valentino Rossi’s team having lost his Gresini Ducati ride to Marc Marquez towards the latter half of the season.
Di Giannantonio’s VR46 reprieve came amid a substantial form jump that led to his first top five, podium and win results in the premier class.
As such, more was expected of Di Giannantonio coming into his third year in MotoGP in 2024.
But after a solid pre-season, Di Giannantonio has yet to show any standout results, amassing just 15 points from the first two rounds of the campaign in Qatar and Portugal.
Seventh at the Qatar GP is the highlight so far, while 10th in Portugal was somewhat gifted due to several crashes in front of him.
While frustrated by his slow start, Di Giannantonio says the lessons of 2023 when simply breaking into the top 10 was “celebrated like hell” at the same stage of the season has made him more pragmatic.
“50/50, honestly, because for sure in the tests we have been amazing,” he said when asked if it was frustrating not to be able to replicate his strong winter form so far.
Source: Autosport