(Motorsport-Total.com) – Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia is the 2023 MotoGP world champion. Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati) collided with Marc Marquez (Honda) at the season finale in Valencia (Spain) and was eliminated. Bagnaia celebrated his successful defense of his title with his seventh win of the season (race result). In the final tally, his lead over Martin was 39 World Cup points (overall World Cup standings).
Francesco Bagnaia successfully defended his world title with a victory
“It was a long race, 27 laps of battle,” says Bagnaia. “I had some problems with the front tire. I let the two KTM riders through and then my feeling improved because the temperature and pressure increased.”
“From then on I felt comfortable and was able to attack. But in the final laps the tires deteriorated a lot. It was tough. But we did it and secured the title with a win. It couldn’t get any better! I would like to thank my team. They’re just fantastic.”
Around 93,000 fans gathered in the stands around the Circuit Ricardo Tormo on Sunday for the World Cup final. At the start of the 27-lap race, Bagnaia took the lead. Martin overtook in turn 2 and the KTM duo started chasing Bagnaia.
At the end of the second lap, Martin was very close behind the Italian. Bagnaia did not come out of the target curve optimally. In the braking zone before Turn 1, Martin was sucked into the slipstream. He had to move outwards to avoid crashing into Bagnaia.
There was even slight contact between the World Cup competitors. Martin drove around the outside of the asphalt run-off area in a wide arc and got back into eighth place. Martin started to catch up and immediately overtook Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati).
Maverick Vinales, who was the only driver to take the soft rear tire, offered tougher resistance. On lap six, Martin finally overtook the Aprilia rider. But then a decisive situation arose a few corners later.
Martin hit Marc Marquez’s rear wheel in turn 4. The Honda driver flew into the gravel in a high arc. And Martin also crashed in the gravel trap and was eliminated. With that, the World Cup decision was made. Martin’s failure was signaled to Bagnaia on the pit board.
“I would like to congratulate ‘Pecco’ on the World Cup,” says Martin in his first reaction. “It was my first time fighting for the MotoGP title. We certainly have to learn from our mistakes. Not winning here was due to the fact that we came here with a big gap.”
KTM duo throws away the lead
On the track, the new and old world champion was overtaken by the KTM duo. Brad Binder led ahead of Jack Miller. But at halfway through the race, Binder made a mistake and unintentionally took the long lap penalty loop. He fell back to sixth place.
On the 19th lap, Miller took off into turn 10 while in the lead. Bagnaia took the lead just ahead of Johann Zarco (Pramac-Ducati). Binder had worked his way back up to third place, although he had bumped into Alex Marquez while trying to catch up.
Binder had to give up a position to Vinales, but the Aprilia rider no longer had the pace with the soft tire and fell back. In the final phase, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini-Ducati) came on strong and took third place from Binder.
Fabio Di Giannantonio makes it exciting
“Diggia” was the fastest man and caught up with the leading duo. On the penultimate lap he grabbed second place from Zarco. On the last lap, Di Giannantonio put pressure on Bagnaia. But there was no real attack anymore.
“It’s probably the worst podium of my life,” laughs Di Giannantonio. “I pushed so hard and had a really good race pace. I caught up with the leading group and thought that victory was possible. I wanted to say goodbye to the team with a win.”
“But ‘Pecco’ closed the door on the last lap and I couldn’t win,” sighed the Italian after the third podium finish of his career. “It’s still an incredible achievement for us. I’m super happy and also very proud.”
Zarco said goodbye to Pramac-Ducati with third place. After his turbulent race, Binder ultimately came fourth. Raul Fernandez (RNF) was the best Aprilia rider in fifth. Alex Marquez took the checkered flag in sixth place.
Franco Morbidelli finished his last Yamaha race in seventh place. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Luca Marini (VR46-Ducati) and Vinales completed the top 10. Only 14 drivers saw the final checkered flag of the year.
Those were Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), who had a fever, Takaaki Nakagami (LCR-Honda), Lorenzo Savadori (RNF-Aprilia) and, after a crash, Pol Espargaro (Tech3-GasGas).
For only the second time since 1949, a season came to an end in which no driver was able to win two Grand Prix victories in a row.
A test day for next year will take place in Valencia on Tuesday. Then the factory teams will roll their new prototypes out of the garage. Riders who change teams can get to know their new bikes.