In a collectively strong race for Pertamina Enduro VR46, Fabio Di Giannantonio finished fifth in the MotoGP Argentina GP - less than three seconds from the podium he was aiming for.

Asked if he was pleased with the outcome at Termas de Río Hondo, the Italian said: 'In terms of results, yes: two top fives - in the Sprint and in the main race. I think compared to Thailand, it was a massive step forward in terms of speed, consistency, everything. I’m so happy and proud, especially for the team. They are really incredible and we did an amazing job through the weekend'.

That said, Di Giannantonio admitted he missed out on his podium goal, and his teammate played a part in that: 'I’m not fully happy because I really wanted the podium. I think that if Franco [Morbidelli] hadn’t overtaken, maybe I could have been in a different position. Because I started so well, the plan was to be in fourth/fifth in the first laps, and then try to build on that'.

Despite acknowledging Morbidelli's good overtaking move, the #49 highlighted that it didn't favor his strategy: 'For sure, he made a good move, but it ruined my plan a bit because I was behind [Brad] Binder for three-quarters of the race and I lost so much time there. Binder is a really tough rider to pass. After that, I got an incredible pace - I did 1m38.3s on lap 20, something like that. I had an amazing pace, but a bit too late, so that makes me a bit angry because I wanted the podium'.