Bagnaia crowned MotoGP World Champion!

Pecco Bagnaia (Team Lenovo Ducati) celebrated his second and consecutive premier-class world championship from the top step of the podium, but it was far from a foregone conclusion when the lights went out on the 27-lap Valencia Grand Prix, held at the Spanish circuit on Sunday, November 26.

Promising start for Pecco

The signs were good when the factory Ducati rider was promoted to pole position after pole man Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) was demoted three positions for ignoring a black flag in the morning’s warm-up session, and it was looking even better when a perfect start earned Bagnaia the holeshot.

But title challenger Jorge Martin – who reduced the points gap significantly the day before by winning the Sprint ahead of Bagnaia in fifth – was determined to spoil the party. The Prima Pramac Ducati rider got a lightning start, drafting past the two Red Bull KTMs of Brad Binder and Jack Miller to slot himself right behind Bagnaia in the early parts of the opening lap.

But it all nearly came unstuck for both title contenders at the end of the straight on the second lap when Martin, who was sucked in by Bagnaia’s slipstream, missed his braking marker and the rear end of Bagnaia’s factory Ducati by millimetres. He ran wide and rejoined the race down in eighth place, some two seconds behind the race leader.

Down to business

With a 0.344sec gap back to Binder, Bagnaia got his head down at the front but was unable to gap the two determined KTMs in his wake, as Martin started his desperate recovery behind. Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was his first victim on lap four, before Vinales – who was making the best of his soft rear tyre in the early stages – made life difficult for his fellow Spaniard as the pair vied for sixth place.

Just up ahead, Martin’s teammate Johann Zarco engaged in a stoush with Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), as both men looked for a strong result in what were their final appearances with their current teams.

Martin finally found a way through on Vinales on lap six, but as Marquez took a tight line in his negotiation with Zarco, Martin found himself on the same piece of tarmac. The pair came together, Martin crashing out and flicking Marquez into a violent highside, putting paid to any hope Martin had of halting Bagnaia’s romp to championship glory.

Crown confirmation

A pitboard advising Bagnaia of Martin’s crash and his resulting world title came as he crossed the line to start lap seven, but a break in concentration meant the two factory KTMs relegated the Italian to third place as the reality began to sink in. Zarco, now in fourth, eyed a farewell podium with 20 laps left to run but couldn’t make any inroads on Bagnaia ahead.

A mistake by Binder on the 14th lap saw the South African run really wide, gifting Aussie Jack Miller a 1.3sec lead in the race over Bagnaia, while Binder, now back in seventh, bounced off Marquez in an aggressive move for sixth, which came with a penalty of dropping one position.

By lap 18, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) – who had qualified 11th on the grid – found his groove, passing Vinales for fifth, and then, just as attentions were turned towards the battle for fourth between Binder, Diggia, Marquez and Vinales, Miller threw away what looked like a nailed-on grand prix victory when he lost the front at Turn 10 the next time around.

Back in front

Bagnaia wouldn’t have been able to believe his luck as he now led the race with seven laps to go, with Zarco and now Binder back in the podium places behind. Aprilia men Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) and Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia) made the most of Vinales’ deteriorating soft rear tyre, relegating the pole getter to eighth on lap 22, as Bagnaia was managing a 0.5sec gap at the front with just five laps left to run.

Franco Morbidelli (Monster Yamaha) inflicted more pain on Vinales on what was his last ride with the Japanese factory team, as Diggia hit his straps and passed Binder for third before setting off after the leader with nothing to lose and, more importantly, no world championship to interfere with.

With two laps to go, the Gresini rider was half-a-second quicker than anyone else on the circuit and he made light work of Zarco for second on the penultimate lap. When they crossed the line to start the final lap of the season, Bagnaia had 0.2sec in hand over his fellow Italian, who was just a tenth ahead of Zarco. And while smoke from Diggia’s GP22 threatened to derail his podium charge, Bagnaia rode the last lap like the three-time world champion he knew he was (he also won the Moto2 world title in 2018), defending his lines brilliantly to celebrate the title with a hard-fought win.

Spoils of victory

“We won the title by winning the race, better than this is impossible,” Bagnaia beamed in Parc Ferme. And who can argue. Diggia held on to finish second across the line ahead of Zarco for another all-Ducati podium, before the Italian was later penalised for running tyre pressures that were too low. The three-second penalty relegated Diggia to fourth, bumping Binder onto the bottom step of the podium.

Raul Fernandez scored his best premier-class finish of fifth, ahead of Alex Marquez and Morbidelli. Aleix Espargaro dropped back to eighth by the flag ahead of Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati), with Vinales rounding out the top 10.

Bagnaia’s title means it’s the first time a rider bearing the number-one plate has retained the crown in a quarter of a century, since Aussie legend Mick Doohan did it 25 years ago. It’s also just the third time a rider has successfully defended a title in the MotoGP era, with Pecco Bagnaia joining nine-time world champ Valentino Rossi and eight-time world champ Marc Marquez on that list.

Bagnaia ended the season on 467 points to Martin’s 428 and Mooney VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi’s 329. Binder (293) was fourth overall, while Zarco’s podium meant he won the battle for fifth with 225 points, ahead of Aleix Espargaro (206), Vinales (204) and Marini (201). Aussie Jack Miller ended the season in 11th on 163 points.

The 2024 MotoGP season kicks off today (November 27) with the post-season test providing riders with their first taste of 2024-spec machinery, before the winter break ahead of the pre-season test in Sepang, Malaysia, early next year.