Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) won the Valencian Community Grand Prix this Sunday and became the first rider to resume the MotoGP world title with number 1 since 1998, when he beat Australian Mick Doohan.
Bagnaia completed 27 laps of the Valencia circuit in 40.58.535 minutes, leaving compatriot Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati) in second place, 0.176 seconds behind, and Frenchman Johan Zarco (Ducati) in third on 0.360.
Bagnaia’s Pecco didn’t even need a win to win the championship as his rival, Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati), crashed on lap six after colliding with Spaniard Marc Marquez (Honda) from behind.
Martin, winner of Saturday’s sprint race, started 14 points behind, but Banaya made a good start and led the race.
Trying to follow him, the Martinator made a mistake on the second lap when he failed to brake for the first turn, hitting the rear of Bagnai’s Ducati, which held on without falling. The Spaniard had to take the escape route, dropping to eighth place.
This mistake ended up making Martin even more nervous, which ultimately led to a second mistake. He failed to brake on the sixth lap, when he was already in sixth place, and ended up colliding with the rear of Márquez’s Honda, which pirouetted in the air before falling into an escape route, setting the record for most crashes in a season ( 28).
Martin’s Ducati was also on the field, as was his dream of winning the title.
The Spaniard returned to the pits only to cry in horror, despite everyone comforting him.
History was made with the Pramak team title, the team of Martin and Zarco becoming the first private team to win this championship.
Bagnaia lost the team to Australian Jack Miller (KTM) and second place to South African Brad Binder (KTM) when he suffered problems with his front tyre.
The temperature rose and so did the confidence of the Italian, who again overtook Binder to watch, fearless and serene, as Miller crashed shortly after while in a comfortable lead.
Leading the team again, Bagnaia still resisted Di Giannantonio’s late attack to take his ninth win of the season.
“It’s incredible. I’m at a loss for words. It was a long race. I didn’t have much confidence on the front line, but my confidence grew. We finally did it and won the race and the title. It couldn’t be better,” the two-time champion exulted after a crash-ridden race in which only 14 riders finished.
With these results, Banaya scored 467 points, 39 more than Martin, who was second.
Bagnaia became MotoGP world champion for the first time in 2022 wearing the number 63, finishing in the number 1 position this season, becoming the first rider to confirm the title using that number since 1998 when Doohan won the championship with Honda.
Since then, only this number has been stamped on the fairings of the motorcycles of Alex Crivilla, Kenny Roberts Jr., Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo, and despite repeating their achievements, none of them managed to re-certify the scepters, while Valentino Rossi never did not give up the number 46, like Marc Marquez at 99, Joan Mir at 36 and Fabio Quartararo at 20.
The Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia), who did not take part in this last round due to a fracture of the right shoulder blade received in the previous race, finished the championship in Qatar a week ago in 16th place, scoring 76 points.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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