Francesco Bagnaia has been crowned the MotoGP world champion at the Valencia Grand Prix season finale.
Bagnaia trailed Fabio Quartararo by as much as 91 points mid-season, but managed to fight his way back and win the championship with a ninth place finish behind race winner Alex Rins.
Quartararo looked like he was going to defend his championship mid-season until Bagnaia took four consecutive wins to take a 23-point lead going into the season finale. All the pressure was on Quartararo who needed to win the race with Bagnaia in 14th for the Frenchman to win the championship. He fought his hardest to claim fourth position with Bagnaia finishing in ninth.
Ducati’s last world championship came back in 2007 courtesy of Casey Stoner.
Francesco Bagnaia – 2022 MotoGP world champion.
“World champion – it sounds good” smiled Pecco.
“That was the hardest race of my life. I was struggling. My aim was to be in the top five, but I started to struggle after a few laps, but the most important thing is we are world champions.”
Quartararo gave 100% to claim fourth position in the race.
“It was a tough race,” said Fabio, “especially for the left side of the tyre, but I gave my 100%. It was not enough to fight for the podium or the victory. It was hotter today than it was the previous days, and the left side of my front tyre went completely soft. That was the point where I lost the race. I’m a bit disappointed, but congratulations to Pecco for winning the title. Now I just can’t wait to try our new bike. But first we have to celebrate tonight. Then at Tuesday we have that very important test for 2023, and of course I’m really motivated because it concerns our future bike.”
Alex Rins managed to give Suzuki their perfect MotoGP send-off as they leave the MotoGP championship to pursue different avenues.
“We couldn’t sign off any better than this,” said Rins.
“I’m so proud, I’ve learned so much with Suzuki and now I’m going to start a new chapter”
Rins joins LCR Honda next season taking Alex Marquez’ seat.
KTM’s South African rider Brad Binder and pole-sitter Jorge Martin, a Spaniard on a Ducati Pramac, completed the podium.
Bagnaia claimed his first MotoGP championship on 265 points, 17 points clear of Quartararo. Enea Bastianini managed to finish third in the championship standings.
Both Marc Marquez, and Jack Miller crashed out and were unable to rejoin the race.
Valencia MotoGP Results 2022
- Alex RINS SUZUKI
- Brad BINDER KTM
- Jorge MARTIN DUCATI
- Fabio QUARTARARO YAMAHA
- Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM
- Joan MIR SUZUKI
- Luca MARINI DUCATI
- Enea BASTIANINI DUCATI
- Francesco BAGNAIA DUCATI
- Franco MORBIDELLI YAMAHA
- Marco BEZZECCHI DUCATI
- Raul FERNANDEZ KTM
- Remy GARDNER KTM
- Takaaki NAKAGAMI HONDA
- Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO DUCATI
- Cal CRUTCHLOW YAMAHA
- Alex MARQUEZ HONDA
DNF Jack MILLER DUCATI
DNF Johann ZARCO DUCATI
DNF Maverick VIÑALES APRILIA
DNF Marc MARQUEZ HONDA
DNF Pol ESPARGARO HONDA
DNF Darryn BINDER YAMAHA
DNF Aleix ESPARGARO APRILIA
MotoGP Championship Points Standings
- BAGNAIA Francesco ITA – 265 points
- QUARTARARO Fabio FRA – 248 points
- BASTIANINI Enea ITA – 219 points
- ESPARGARO Aleix SPA – 212 points
- MILLER Jack AUS – 189 points
- BINDER Brad RSA – 188 points
- RINS Alex SPA – 173 points
- ZARCO Johann FRA – 166 points
- MARTIN Jorge SPA – 152 points
- OLIVEIRA Miguel POR – 149 points
- VIÑALES Maverick SPA – 122 points
- MARINI Luca ITA – 120 points
- MARQUEZ Marc SPA – 113 points
- BEZZECCHI Marco ITA – 111 points
- MIR Joan SPA – 87 points
- ESPARGARO Pol SPA – 56 points
- MARQUEZ Alex SPA – 50 points
- NAKAGAMI Takaaki JPN – 48 points
- MORBIDELLI Franco ITA – 42 points
- DI GIANNANTONIO Fabio ITA – 24 points
- DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA – 15 points
- FERNANDEZ Raul SPA – 14 points
- GARDNER Remy AUS – 13 points
- BINDER Darryn RSA – 12 points
- CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR – 10 points
- BRADL Stefan GER – 2 points
- PIRRO Michele ITA – 0 points
- SAVADORI Lorenzo ITA – 0 points
- NAGASHIMA Tetsuta JPN – 0 points
- PETRUCCI Danilo ITA – 0 points
- WATANABE Kazuki JPN – 0 points
MotoGP Constructor Championship
- DUCATI – 448 points
- YAMAHA – 256 points
- APRILIA – 248 points
- KTM – 240 points
- SUZUKI – 199 points
- HONDA – 155 points
MotoGP Team Championship
- DUCATI LENOVO TEAM – 454 points
- RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING – 337 points
- APRILIA RACING – 334 points
- PRIMA PRAMAC RACING – 318 points
- MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA MOTOGP – 290 points
- TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR – 260 points
- GRESINI RACING MOTOGP – 243 points
- MOONEY VR46 RACING TEAM – 231 points
- REPSOL HONDA TEAM – 171 points
- LCR HONDA – 98 points
- WITHU YAMAHA RNF MOTOGP TEAM – 37 points
- TECH3 KTM FACTORY RACING – 27 points
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