‘Moral win’ for penalised Di Giannantonio at Le Mans

Fabio Di Giannantonio crossed the line first on Sunday during the Moto3 race but a penalty meant that he finished fourth and off the podium, with the team citing Di Giannantonio as the ‘moral winner’.

The Italian tangled with Jakub Kornfeil and went across the chicane, however resumed his position without gaining an advantage – although officials didn’t agree and decided to hand a 3 second time penalty to ‘Digia’. This is all part of the rebranding of the harshness of the officials, who, after the shenanigans of the Argentine GP, said they were to get much harsher.

“I can honestly tell myself that I won this race. The incident with Kornfeil was a strange one, because we got into the chicane at the same time and he touched me whilst trying to get past – a manoeuvre that forced me to cut the corner. Moreover, I got back on track in the same position I was before, so I can’t even say I had any gain from this. We had a perfect weekend and an outstanding race.”

Di Giannantonio does move into 2nd place in the championship, behind French GP rival Marco Bezzecchi, who crashed out on the last corner with Jorge Martin on Sunday. Di Giannantonio now heads to a circuit at which he has amazing form, with two second places at Mugello in the last two seasons. Can he make it a win in 2018?