VR46 Confirm Di Giannantonio’s Sepang Crash was a Botched Celebration

Fabio Di Giannantonio was one of three MotoGP riders to suffer a big injury on the first of three days at the Sepang test, but the cause of how he broke his collarbone has been revealed by VR46.

The Italian, who will be riding the same factory-spec Ducati bike as Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez in 2025, pulled a wheelie at the end of the session but as his front tyre landed, Di Giannantonio lost control and hit the ground.

There is no footage of the crash, but the showboating gone wrong comes at a time when Di Giannantonio was already on the backfoot when it came to preparations for the new season.

Di Giannantonio underwent surgery at the end of last season as he missed the final two rounds, as well as the post-season test in Barcelona where riders began to work with their new bikes ahead of the three-day Sepang test this week.

In his absence the VR46 team has been going strong as Franco Morbidelli, riding last year’s title-winning Desmosedici GP24 bike, topped day two of the test before going on to claim P4 during Friday’s final day.

But for Di Giannantonio, surgery is once again forthcoming ahead of the new campaign, which gets underway at the end of the month in Buriram, Thailand, an event which the one-time MotoGP race winner is now a doubt for.

Revealing how the crash occurred, VR46 team manager Uccio Salucci told Sky Italy: “He arrived in Sepang with a great desire, he hadn't ridden a MotoGP bike since October.

“At the end of the session he made a wheelie: the front tyre was unfortunately 0.3 degrees less and closed for him. The bad luck factor played a lot, you can't say anything to a guy like that..."

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