Only title contender Jorge Martin delivered a bigger increase in points during the second half of the 2023 MotoGP season than Fabio di Giannantonio.
While Martin scored 50 points more over the final ten rounds than over the opening ten events, despite the cancellation of the Phillip Island Sprint, di Giannantonio was hot on his heels with +49 points.
Without the tyre pressure penalty at the Valencia finale demoting him from second to fourth, Diggia would have been credited with another 7 points.
The Gresini rider’s epic turnaround, which included a debut GP podium in Phillip Island, then a Sprint podium and dream victory in Qatar, carried the Italian from 16th to 12th in the final world championship standings.
di Giannantonio (114 points) was notably among only six riders to score more than 100 points during the second half of the season, after Martin (239), world champion Francesco Bagnaia (216), Marco Bezzecchi (146), Brad Binder (133) and Maverick Vinales (118).
“MotoGP is about hard work and trying to make every little part of the bike and your riding style as much perfect as possible,” explained di Giannantonio, who had finished the opening ten rounds with a best race result of just eighth place.
“You are fighting against the best of the best [riders]. You are also against the best teams in the world. So, you really have to be perfect in all areas. But you have to start somewhere. So it takes time.
“For many reasons, [my 2022 rookie season] was a zero year for me. So [in 2023], I started from completely a blank page.”
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