Fabio Di Giannantonio To Miss Final Two Rounds of 2024 MotoGP Season

Fabio Di Giannantonio will miss the final two rounds of the 2024 MotoGP season as he requires surgery to fix his left shoulder.

Di Giannantonio suffered a dislocation in mid-August and has been competing with the injury since the Austrian round.

The VR46 Ducati rider, who is set to ride a full factory GP25 bike next season, will contest the next two rounds in Australia and Thailand, before undergoing surgery. It means he will miss the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang and the season finale at Valencia in November.

“I would have liked to race until Valencia, close the season in the best possible way with the team and then take all the time necessary to deal with the surgery, recovery and rehabilitation.” said Di Giannantonio.

“Unfortunately, however, the calendar is really demanding, the winter break is so short and we cannot risk not arriving at the peak of physical condition at the start of 2025.

“Together with the team, the medical staff and Professor Castagna, we evaluated in the week after the Thai GP the maximum limit to be able to proceed with the shoulder surgery.

“I thought about it for a long time, because it was important for me to give my all until the last race to repay everyone for the great trust they gave me in this 2024, but I am sure that this decision will be really important for my future.”

Di Giannantonio will also miss the post-race test in Valencia where he would have got a first glimpse of the Desmosedici GP25.

VR46 team director Alessio Salucci said: "On the one hand, as a team, I am really sorry to have to give this news, because I know how much effort Fabio has put in these last months after the crash. It wasn’t easy, but he always gave his best.

“This decision doesn’t come by chance, he could have continued to race until Valencia, but this would have meant postponing the surgery until the end of November.

“There wouldn’t have been enough time to optimise the recovery and rehabilitation and this would have certainly affected his physical condition in view of the start of the next season.

“It’s a decision totally shared with Fabio, all the medical staff, Professor Castagna and also our partners who support us in this project.”

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