What if something happens?" Gabriele Giannini: from the thrill of a World Championship podium at Le Mans to the Superbike dream

Tuesday, 21 April 2026 at 19:41

Gabriele Giannini sul podio alla 24 Ore di Le Mans

First career world-level podium for Gabriele Giannini, tired but happy—ecstatic, in fact. At Le Mans he celebrated a brilliant second place in the Stock class together with his adventure companions from the No Limits Motor Team.

Fresh back from the 24 Hours, he immediately resumed training ahead of the first CIV round, but he’s still beaming. The Lazio rider has been one of Italy’s most promising talents on the 1000s for several years now, but he was missing that breakthrough, the important trophy to put in the cabinet. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans he was the fastest in his team, a true driving force. Not by chance, the team asked him to do one extra stint as well as the final hour and a half.

"I had a bit of a rough start," says Gabriele Giannini, "then I settled down, trying to make up ground without making mistakes. My teammates did well, they ran a steady race, then night fell and it got tough. When it’s cold I have some issues with my hands that I need to look into. I was struggling a lot and the fatigue was setting in. When daylight came I got my energy back. They asked me to do the last stint, the final hour and a half, and I was super tense. We were second and I feared disaster. What if I mess up? What if something happens to the bike? So I stuck to my pace, steadily, because the third in Stock was far behind. Then I saw on the pit board: 25 minutes left, 20, 15... Then the checkered flag! Beautiful! The team did an extraordinary job and my teammates were very good: great satisfaction."

Now, eyes on Misano

"In CIV Superbike with Honda Improve the goal is to fight for the podium. Realistically, we’re still missing something to think about winning. The level will be very high too, with Rinaldi who was very strong in testing and others. I want to try to improve my race pace, not just be fast at the beginning and then drop off like happened to me in 2025. In fact, during testing we didn’t mount a time-attack tire; I just tried to be consistent."

Do you still think about World Superbike?

"Oh, absolutely I do! I’m 23 and I grew up following World Superbike more than Grand Prix racing. My idol was Ben Spies and I chose number 19 in his honor. Every now and then, joking with my team manager Alessandro Michelozzi, I ask him to rent a Honda from a BSB team to do a wild card in the World Championship. With the CIV bikes we couldn’t take part because the regulations are completely different, but the BSB ones would be perfect. The costs, however, are too high. I’m hoping for a call as a replacement rider: I already came close in 2023. It seems that from 2027 the World Superbike bikes will be closer to stock, and maybe I’ll be able to do some wild cards even with my CIV team. I’d love that. In the meantime, though, I need to win in Italy, to prove to everyone that I truly deserve a spot in World Superbike. I work every day to try to reach this goal."