Gresini Racing was back at the head of the MotoGP grid at Mugello but this time rookie Fabio di Giannantonio was in control.

The Italian was openly living his dream as he completed the home set with bike, team, track and fans all in his native tongue as he claimed the pole position in only his eighth race in the premier class.

“Well, what to say? Is something incredible,” di Giannantonio commented from the official press conference. “Because you’re here in Mugello, that you expect to do a good result for all the people that come for you, that cheer for you, all the support that you have here in your home race.

“Already riding a Ducati MotoGP bike in Mugello is something incredible and riding to the pole position is something else. So it was such a great end of the day for me and one of the dream of my life is to be on top of the grid of MotoGP and today we achieve here, so incredible.”

The dramatic qualifying was set amidst thunder, lighting and intermittent rain with the rookie securing his place in the final shootout having won the battle in Q1 against big hitters Marc Marquez, Jack Miller, Joan Mir et al. it was partly due to the knowledge learnt in the opening 15-minutes that gave the 23-year-old the confidence to push in the closing action, when other more experienced riders held back.

“Well, for sure, already knowing more or less the conditions of the track were helping me but most of all was following Jack and Marc during Q1,” he explained. “That they are, let’s say, the fastest guys in this condition, usually. So I was behind them. I saw that the limit of the tyre was really high. So I could push really hard to go fast and that gives me the motivation or the knowledge that could be possible also in Q2 to push like this. So it was well preparing for Q2 then, so it helped me.

“Tomorrow honestly is a question mark because yeah, we are on top but at the moment honestly we don’t have the race pace to win the race, for sure,” he continued on Sunday’’s potential. “We will try to enjoy the race, to fight in the first laps and then we see. But we have tomorrow the warm-up session to understand better which is our place and honestly I arrived here just to confirm the good performance of Le Mans, so to reconfirm that will be quite good for me.”

Di Giannantonio’s rookie year didn’t get off to the best of starts, as the Gresini rider missed the opening test at Sepang due to food poisoning. He’s been a little on the back foot ever since but the return to Europe and mid-season testing in Spain has proved fruitful with the Roman scoring his first championship points last time out in Le Mans.

“For sure at the beginning of the year I was struggling a little bit, because that two days cost me to don’t make some kilometres on the bike and also some kilometres to adjust the setup for my riding style. So for sure at the beginning, it was tough, let’s say for us. But then when we are going through the races, for sure the gap is closing and also me and my team are understanding much better which is the way.

“I think we did a good step from Jerez race but mostly Jerez test,” he confirmed. “We try something different and it worked for me and we kept it in Le Mans and then here also is working. So I think that we are doing the right steps to be every race closer and closer to the top.”