Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) won the Valencia Grand Prix, the final round of the MotoGP season, and won his second consecutive world title, while his Spanish rival Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) crashed at the start of the race. race. The suspense did not last very long on Sunday since the Madrilenian, after a good start, fell on the sixth lap, thus offering the crown to Bagnaia, who then brilliantly won the race.
The Turinese, who was ahead of Martin by fourteen lengths before the race, finally finished the season with 39 points ahead of his first pursuer after having won seven Grand Prix victories and four sprint successes. On Sunday, he once again showed unfailing composure to resist the pressure from Martin at the start of the race then from the French Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac) and especially from the Italian Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati-Gresini ) at the end of the race to achieve another boss success.
On the fast Ricardo-Tormo circuit in Valencia, the Transalpine once again demonstrated the power and superiority of his bike. Starting from pole position after a three-place penalty inflicted on the Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), who had to start from first place, he made a good start and did not crack under the pressure of Martin, who even touched him at the start of the third round.
Quartararo finishes in tenth place
Three laps later, the Madrilenian, fighting with his compatriot Marc Marquez, fell after contact with the six-time world champion, who was competing in his last race with Honda, thus making Bagnaia’s coronation official. Overtaken at mid-race by the two KTMs of Australian Jack Miller and South African Brad Binder, Bagnaia did not panic and bided his time to take back control when the Austrian motorcycles began to show signs of weakness and impose themselves once again.
Second on the grid, Zarco took third place and a new podium for his last race aboard a Ducati-Pramac before joining the Honda-LCR team. The Avignonnais finished in a good fifth place in the drivers’ standings, equaling his best performance established in 2021. The other Frenchman, Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), finished in an anonymous eleventh place on Sunday and ends the season in tenth place in the hierarchy, he who had been second in 2022 and world champion in 2021.