VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio believes the riders are ultimately making a bigger difference than track characteristics in the battle between Ducati and Aprilia in the 2026 MotoGP season.
The current championship has ebbed and flowed between MotoGP’s two Italian manufacturers, with the Aprilia RS-GP stronger in fast-and-flowing corners and the Ducati GP26 performing better at stop-and-go layouts.
This has led to the calendar effectively being divided into races that are expected to better suit the Aprilia or the Ducati, based on each track’s layout and characteristics.
Although Di Giannantonio does not deny that certain circuits can suit one bike more than another, he feels Marc Marquez’s recent run of form – five wins in the last seven – proves that it will not be the deciding factor in the title race.
“In my opinion, looking for tracks that favour Ducati or Aprilia is something you journalists are particularly interested in, just as I used to hear people talk about ‘Honda tracks’ or ‘Yamaha tracks,’” said the Italian, who rides the same factory-spec GP26 as Marquez.
“There are incredible riders at both manufacturers, and whoever does the best job wins. That’s the truth. Aprilia is doing a great job and has achieved great results on some tracks, but the truth is that Marquez is silencing everyone. It all depends on how you work on the bike.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing Team
Photo by: Andreas Solaro / AFP via Getty Images
Di Giannantonio was Ducati’s best-performing rider for much of the first half of the season, with his consistency making him an outside contender for the title before Marquez’s resurgence.
However, he has failed to finish on the podium in a Sunday race since his Catalan Grand Prix win in May, leaving him 51 points behind joint championship leaders Marquez and Jorge Martin.
At Misano, he qualified just outside the front row in fourth, but a poor start left him 10th on the opening lap. He recovered to finish seventh, more than 20s down on race winner Marquez.
Di Giannantonio admitted that his mood is mixed heading into this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, with his recent results not reflecting his outright pace.
“We’re showing good, often excellent, speed at every track. It’s a shame about this weekend, though, because in my opinion we’d done everything right,” he said.
“On Saturday, we were close to the front row in qualifying and then the podium, and on Sunday, I could have had a great race.
“We’ll arrive in Austria in a negative mood, but only because a series of negative things piled up. In my opinion, morale should be high.
“We’re fourth in the world championship and we’re doing a great job. So we’re heading to Austria in high spirits because we can do well.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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