Francesco Bagnaia wins his second world championship. The Ducati rider from Turin triumphs in Valencia in the last grand prix of the MotoGP season and becomes world champion for the second year in a row.
The head to head with Jorge Martin, who was chasing him with only 14 points behind him in the standings, ended on the sixth lap with the Spaniard’s fall. Bagnaia won his seventh GP of the season in Valencia, the 18th of his career.
And Ducati smiles with a podium entirely in the name of the Borgo Panigale team with the second time of Fabio Di Giannantonio and the third of Johan Zarco.
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“It’s a dream! Saturday always makes us suffer then on Sunday we are always the strongest. It was a good season, Barcelona had a bit too much influence. I always dreamed of winning the title by also winning the race”, I am were Bagnaia’s first words at the end of the match. “I didn’t see the ‘Martin out’ message. I’ve always dreamed of winning the title by also winning the race at the same time: it’s fantastic, I couldn’t ask for anything better.” Bagnaia doesn’t hide his emotion: “Did I sleep last night? Not much, but that’s fine. However, this year I was more calm. Last year we were also in a better scoring situation, but I felt terrible due to the pressure. Today instead I was ready, I knew that on Sundays we always went stronger.”
The race
A flawless performance from the Turinese capable of resisting first the assault of Martin, who even touched him on the third lap, and then the pressure of the Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) and above all of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati-Gresini) in the final moments. Second in qualifying, he took fifth place in the sprint won by Martin on Saturday with which the Spaniard had reduced the gap from 21 to 14 points. But Bagnaia did not give in, as the over 93,000 Spanish fans present in the stands of the Ricardo-Tormo Circuit would have hoped.
Starting from pole position after the three-place penalty imposed by the stewards on the Spaniard Maverick Vinales for not respecting a black flag marked with an orange circle (immediate return to the pits) during the morning warm-up, Bagnaia took the lead as soon as the traffic lights were out and he gave his rivals no chance of displacing him from first position. Even though Martin had moved from sixth to second position before the first corner, the Turin driver led his race without worrying about the Madrilenian who at the beginning of the third lap, at the end of the first straight, was trapped by Bagnaia’s slipstream and touched slightly, failing to brake and dropping back to eighth place.
Then, three laps later, the fall: while fighting with Marc Marquez for sixth place, the two touched and the six-time world champion, who was racing his last race with Honda, fell heavily, while Martin ended up straight into the gravel before falling himself. The Spaniard immediately headed towards the paddock with his scooter and when he arrived he burst into tears before being consoled by his entire team and even by Carmelo Ezpeleta, the Spanish boss of Dorna, organizer of the MotoGP championship. Meanwhile, Bagnaia continued his race. Overtaken halfway through the race by the two KTMs of Australian Jack Miller and South African Brad Binder, the Turin rider didn’t panic and waited for the right moment to regain control when the Austrian bikes started to show signs of weakness and closed in first place for the great Ducati party. Jorge Martin was among the first to congratulate Bagnaia with a long and warm hug.
Bagnaia champion with 39 points ahead of Martin
In the end there was a 39 point lead over Jorge Martin which allowed Francesco Bagnaia to win the motorcycling world championship. After the last grand prix of the season, the one held today in Valencia, the Ducati rider finished with 467 points against Martin’s 428.
This is the final ranking (top 10):
1. F. Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) 467 points
2. J. Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) 428
3. M. Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) 329
4. B. Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) 293
5. J. Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) 225
6. A. Espargaro (April Racing) 206
7. M. Viñales (Aprilia Racing) 204
8. L. Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) 201
9. A. Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) 177
10. F. Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) 172 .
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2023-11-26 22:59:00
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