DIGGIA BACK ON THE PODIUM IN FRONT OF HOME CROWD AT MISANO
It was a day of contrasting feelings for Team Del Conca Gresini Moto3 under Misano’s heavy rain, with the joy for Fabio Di Giannantonio’s podium finish that mixed up with the disappointment of Jorge Martin’s crash.
Diggia, as often happens with him, put together an impressive recovery, although this time not because of a poor starting position. The 18-year-old got a great launch off the front row, but after a couple of laps he ran off track and lost a handful of places. This turned out to be the key moment of this race, because while many of his opponent crashed out – only 16 of them made it to the end of the encounter – Fabio managed to keep it together and found a good rhythm. The battle with Canet in the closing stages was tough but fair and, once the Spaniard fell off his bike, Di Giannantonio rode the bike home in third place to collect his fourth podium of the season.
It was an unfortunate race for Jorge Martin, who started from pole position – following the penatly inflicted to Bastianini – but had to retire from the race with 14 laps to go after losing the front of his Honda NSF250RW #88 under braking, while he was running strong in second place. The Spaniard therefore missed out on what would have been a precious 20-point finish, and he is now tailed by his teammate, who is only four points away now in fifth.
Moto3 will return to action in a fortnight’s time at Aragon, the last European race before the traditional three-in-a-row flyaway segment in Asia/Oceania and the season finale in Valencia.
3rd – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21 “I’m very happy. When I saw today’s conditions I was a bit worried because I recalled the race at Brno and how it went. I’m usually quite competitive on the wet but somehow that day I couldn’t get up to speed. To be racing in front of my home crowd helped me a lot as I was more determined than ever to get a good result, but a mistake early on forced me to keep my attention level even higher. I went from second to seventh and started seeing a lot of crashes. I chose to keep my rhythm until I started battling with Canet: when he got past I saw that he was a bit on the limit so I decided to put a bit of pressure on him, and then I couldn’t believe my eyes when he crashed.”
N.C. – JORGE MARTIN #88 ”I’m a bit disappointed: it was one of the best weekends of my career, with similar feelings to Barcelona. I was strong in both dry and wet conditions, but the crash was strange because I tucked the front while I was riding in a straight line. I tried to keep the bike on using the clutch but once I reached the gravel I let the bike go in order to protect my leg.”
