Pecco Bagnaia ends Ducati’s 15 year long wait as he becomes the 2022 MotoGP world champion
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Pecco Bagnaia and Valentino Rossi
Ducati has a new king and he is none other than Pecco Bagnaia as the Italian rider went on to win the 2022 MotoGP world championship at the title deciding season finale at Valencia. The team and the fans were teary eyed after witnessing this spectacle. With a sizeable gap of 23 points coming into the Valencia GP weekend, it was obvious that the title was in the bag but this sport is known for its unpredictable nature.
Fortunately, the Italian driver did not have much of a problem as he was calm and composed all throughout the weekend. After Qualifying 4 places behind Fabio Quartararo in 8th, Pecco Bagnaia still had nothing to worry about. His efforts all throughout the season had brought him to a point where all he had to do was finish the race in a position above 15th and the title was his.
Fabio Quartararo on the other hand had a lot of work to do and even more ground to cover. Qualifying in P4 wasn’t enough as the Yamaha rider needed to win the race and for Pecco Bagnaia to finish outside P14 in order to win the 2022 MotoGP championship. It all seemed like an unattainable goal which turned out to be true. However, the French rider refused to go down without a fight and gave it his all.
A ninth place finish for Pecco Bagnaia was enough to make him champion
It was an important weekend for the Ducati rider as he was on track to win his first championship. During the opening laps of the Valencia GP, the title contenders had contact where a big piece of Pecco’s wing broke off. After that, the Ducati rider spent the whole race being in defensive mode as he had no reason to take risks. It never seemed like he was going to lose the championship at any point in the race.
Having started in 8th place, the Ducati rider went on to cross the finish line classifying 9th overall while Fabio Quartararo finished in the same position he started in (4th) and crossed the line just 0.85 seconds behind 3rd place finisher Jorge Martin. Pecco Bagnaia had a bit of a tussle with Fabio but later gave up on that as the Yamaha rider charged forward.
After that moment, VR46 Ducati riderLuca Marini and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini went on to pass the soon to be world champion. However Pecco Bagnaia gave Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli a good fight but still went on to beat him to P9, thus securing him his maiden MotoGP title. The last time a Ducati won the riders world championship was all the way back in 2007 which was 15 years ago.
Casey Stoner won the title back then and as of today, Ducati can finally say that they have a new champion. The 15 year long wait is finally over. After a fierce title battle between Fabio Quartararo and Pecco Bagnaia, it was without a doubt clear that both were equally deserving of winning the championships in lieu to the humongous efforts that they put in. Massive congratulations to Pecco Bagnaia. You deserve it, enjoy this moment.
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Varad Joshi
(940 Articles Published)