“We really deserved this title,” Pecco Bagnaia looks back at his 2022 MotoGP season as he overturned the biggest title deficit in premier class history


“We really deserved this title,” Pecco Bagnaia looks back at his 2022 MotoGP season as he overturned the biggest title deficit in premier class history

Pecco Bagnaia

It was all glory and flames as a new hero in the name of Pecco Bagnaia rose and went on to win his maiden MotoGP title while subsequently giving Ducati their first riders championship in 15 years. Casey Stoner was the last one to do it back in 2007 and now Pecco has done it in 2022. However the path to get where he is right now was not at all easy but it was all worth it in the end.

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The Italian rider suffered 5 DNF’s all throughout the season where four of them were based on individual errors that happened in the midst of a title fight with competitors Aleix Espargaro, Enea Bastianini and Fabio Quartararo at the time. Being faced with a 91 points deficit, Pecco Bagnaia didn’t give up on his team and nor his dreams and went on to prove everyone wrong.

The Ducati rider managed to claw down on this massive lead and came into the finale race of the season with a 23 points lead over 2nd place in the championship. Having qualified 8th, the Italian went on to finish the race in 9th place which was enough for him to secure his championship. Here is what Pecco Bagnaia has to say as he reflected on his season.

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Pecco Bagnaia’s early mistakes lowered his title winning chances

Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia MotoGP
Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia

Here is what the Ducati rider had to say when he gave an interview in front of the media. “The most difficult moment outside of today; well not today but yesterday, was Sachsnering,” said Bagnaia. “I was very competitive like in Le Mans with a possibility to win the race but I crashed. In that moment I recognised that my weak point was that I’m a rider with a lot of ups and downs, with a good speed but not with consistency,” he said.

“And to accept that was not easy. From that moment I recognised that I had a problem and I tried to improve myself. “I just lost the faith on the championship for like one hour after Sachsenring. But even in that moment I was knowing there was a chance to be world champion,” added Bagnaia. 

“We performed in an incredible way in the second part of the season and we analysed everything at home to understand why I was crashing, why I was making so many mistakes. From that moment we did something incredible. We really deserved this title,” he concluded.

It has been a roller coaster of a season for the Ducati hotshot but it’s without a doubt that he deserves this title. The amount of efforts that he put in and the performances of his since the start of the second half of the season have been commendable. Ducati can finally say that they have a new champion. The 15 year long wait is finally over.

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