Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha’s MotoGP racer, believed he had to win the race to retain his crown, while Francesco Bagnaia only needed to finish in 14th place to secure Ducati’s first MotoGP world title since 2007. Bagnaia, who is 25 years and 296 days old, is now the oldest rider to clinch his maiden MotoGP world title since Nicky Hayden in 2006. He is also the first Italian rider to win a premier-class world title since Valentino Rossi in 2009 and the seventh Italian rider to do so.
Bagnaia won the 2022 San Marino GP, making him the first-ever Ducati rider to win four successive GP races in any class of GP racing. He joined Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, and Marc Marquez as the fourth rider to win four (or more) races in four (or more) successive races in the class since the introduction of MotoGP in 2002.
In the tense race, Quartararo beat Bagnaia on track, but ninth place was enough for Bagnaia to win the crown. He became the first rider in history to win the MotoGP title having registered five DNFs. Meanwhile, Rins held off early pressure from Jorge Martin to claim the final palm for Suzuki in the Japanese marque’s last race in MotoGP.
Bagnaia was sixth in the Championship after the German GP, 91 points off the leader Fabio Quartararo. This is the best point recovery for the title since the point scoring system’s introduction in 1993. Since 2001, only two riders have won the title without finishing within the top five in the opening race of the season: Joan Mir in 2020 and Francesco Bagnaia in 2022, both of whom crashed out.
Quartararo caught up with Bagnaia on stage four into Turn 6 to move back into fifth place as Bagnaia steadily fell down the order. Bagnaia became the first rider to win the premier class title with five DNFs throughout the season. He is also the second rider to win the premier class world title after previously winning the Moto2 title, following in the footsteps of Marc Marquez. Congratulations to both MotoGP stars, and we hope to see more magical moments on the track from MotoGP in the future.
