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Di Giannantonio aiming to be ‘the best athlete I can be’

Fabio Di Giannantonio is throwing himself firmly into preparations for his rookie season in MotoGP with Gresini Racing.

The Italian progresses from Moto2 as the Gresini outfit strikes out on its own as a fully independent MotoGP team for 2022, fulfilling the ambitions of its late founder and namesake, Fausto Gresini.

Having already raced four of his six Grand Prix seasons inside the Italian family squad, Di Giannantonio is determined to learn as much as he can during his debut in the premier class, with the goal of ‘Rookie of the Year’ in both his and his team boss Nadia Padovani’s sights from the outset.

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The 23-year-old may have lost his former mentor, but the wise words live on as he makes the next step in his career.

“Fausto was always saying to me to enjoy; to enjoy racing, to enjoy the work of the MotoGP because when you enjoy everything comes easier,” Di Giannantonio recalled. "Fausto left this mark also in the people that are working here, all the team, all the family also. So we keep pushing with Fausto's thoughts. I think it was great advice that I'm understanding day by day as I'm growing up. Because when I was a little kid I was just going on the bike and push but when you enjoy, everything is better.

“For sure the preparation for MotoGP is a bit different comparing the Moto2 because the races are a bit longer,” he continued looking ahead to the new adventure. “Also physically I have to improve 100% but I think I will be ready, no problem.

“It will be a new challenge so the expectations are just to learn day by day, race by race on the bike, lap by lap and to improve at this team. Just improve. My bike, everything is fine more or less so now just focus on MotoGP and to start the season.”

The rookies have already experienced their first taste of life on a GP bike, thanks to November’s two day test at Jerez but have an extra three days on track at Sepang to look forward to compared to the rest of the grid. The new recruits will join the factory test riders for the Shakedown on January 31st while the main contenders are forced to wait until February 5th to kick start their 2022 action.

“From the test I understood that we have to improve a bit the angle in the middle of the corner,” Diggia reflected on his Ducati Desmosedici debut two months ago.

“I have to trust more the tyres, because with this bike is incredible how much you can lean.

“Overall I have to improve everything because at the end I've just done 100 laps or something like this in two days. Now we are waiting to go to Malaysia to do seven days testing. There I will understand more which are my weak points, which are my best points also and work on it.”

2022 won’t be the first time Di Giannantonio is paired with fellow Italian Enea Bastianini. The duo were teammates at Gresini in Moto3 for his maiden full-time season in 2016 and are hoping to build on an already strong relationship for the coming year.

“I think in MotoGP overall, there is a lot of work to do already by ourselves, but we have a great relationship,” he commented. “So I'm sure that if I have some questions to Enea and also the same from his side, I think there will be no problems to help each other. We have a great relationship, the team is a big, big family all together and also the Ducati way of work is to share all the data, so I think will not be a problem to share data and to share comments.

“When you have a new bike, you have to understand when you can relax on the bike also, and it takes time, sometimes years, but overall the physical side is always important,” the Italian said on his winter preparation. “From Moto3 to MotoGP, it has the same importance but for sure you have to work a lot on the cardio side but also on the strength. The bike has power, a lot of power, so it pulls and you have to push on the bike. Overall you have to be the best athlete you can be, you don't have to be too big for the weight but overall you have to be just the best version of yourself, I think.”

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