A RESURFACED Lusail International Circuit in Qatar in late autumn was always likely to throw up something unexpected. For Francesco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) it was a duff rear tyre in the Sprint race. For championship rival Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) it was the same, only in Sunday’s vital feature race. And for the watching world it was Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati), a surprise first-time winner while, incredibly, he continues his hunt for a job.
Ousted from his Gresini berth by Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) for 2024, Di Giannantonio has used the recent overseas tour as a nine-week spell to showcase his talents to any willing employers. And even as options in MotoGP have dried up, the Italian displayed to certain teams just what they will be missing after coolly overcoming Bagnaia’s challenge in a late-race scrap.
“Real redemption, real revenge,” was how Di Giannantonio described it after learning he had lost the chance of a MotoGP berth at the previous week’s Malaysian GP. That anger had fuelled his entire weekend, which he began by asserting he was gunning for a maiden premier-class win. And once he had chased long-time
