BACK-TO-BACK EVENTS TO KICK START TEAM GRESINI MOTOGP’S 2023
The long-awaited start to the season has arrived and Team Gresini MotoGP is ready for what can be another successful season after the good performances by Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez in pre-season testing. The Italian recovered quickly from last week’s incident in Portimao’s gravel trap, and this is by any means the best new to start the race week with. The Spanish rider, on the other hand, has shown great feeling with both the bike and the track, which bode well for the beginning of this new Desmo-powered journey.
There is obviously a novelty in place with the inception of the Saturday’s sprint race (at 3pm), and addition that will change the approach to the weekend, but it will be easy to get up to speed with two back-to-back events. Portimao will break the seal, and Termas de Rio Hondo will follow.
Alex has always finished in the top ten in Portugal since his premier class debut (his best result was a fourth place in 2021), while his last highlight in Argentina came in 2019, with a podium in the Moto2 class. Diggia also had his rostrum celebration in the ‘lower’ classes at Termas (third in 2018 with the Moto3 category), while his best result in Algarve came in 2021 (11th in both events held there that year).
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49
“I’ve been feeling 100% fit for a few days now, and after the hit suffered in the test, it was important to get back in shape straight away. I’m charged up for Portugal and for the new race weekend format. Portimao has always been a demanding track, so we’ll have to manage the energy well and get in the points straight away. We’ll see then where we’re at in Argentina, on a track that it’s usually quite dirty at the start of the weekend: it will be important to be quick straight away and be less conservative.”
ALEX MARQUEZ #73
“Time to begin finally! We’re coming from a few days of very positive testing and I’m eager to test myself at the track. I would have loved a few more days to get to know the Ducati better, but we’re at a good point already and the first three-four races of the season will be key to find the right automatisms and feelings ahead of the season. There’s a sprint race to discover, so we’ll dive into these first two weekends with renewed confidence.”
