The 2022 MotoGP world championship was billed as ‘The Decider’ - but Pecco Bagnaia ensured there was little to worry about as he became the first Italian world champion since the iconic Valentino Rossi.
Bagnaia held a 23-point lead over 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo heading into the season finale in Valencia, and the 25-year-old clinched the title with a ninth-placed finish on Sunday. In doing so, he became the first riders’ champion aboard an iconic red Ducati since Casey Stoner back in 2007.
Over the campaign, Bagnaia recorded seven wins and overcame a stunning deficit of 91 points - the largest comeback in MotoGP championship history. His Riders’ title meant Ducati secured the coveted Triple Crown of Constructors’, Teams’ and Riders’ titles.
A truly fascinating campaign littered with drama, crashes and thrills ensured a motorsport fan’s dream: a championship battle going down to the final race. It was marketed as ‘The Decider’, though, in truth, Quartararo had to win while Bagnaia simply had to hold on - but with five DNFs to his name in 2022, that was easier said than done.
Ducati were armed with almost a grid of their own riders to try and make things difficult for Quartararo, but Bagnaia declared he wanted to win on the track - not by order from above. He certainly did the business on his own terms at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, comfortably cruising to the championship while his French rival ultimately finished fourth.
Neil Hodgson, the 2003 Superbike world champion and current BT Sport presenter, was thrilled that Bagnaia was able to win the championship - both for himself and for Ducati. He said: “Unreal. He was 91 points behind at one point! When you think about the amount of money Ducati have invested in this project, there’s only one goal and that’s to win the MotoGP world championship.”
Former racer Michael Laverty praised Bagnaia’s comeback and hailed his incredible mentality to overcome such a deficit.
“I think Pecco and Ducati deserve it. They’ve built the best MotoGP machine on the grid: it’s got a good engine, aerodynamics package, the works,” Laverty told Mirror Sport . “They’ve turned it around over the last few years, invested in the right people and built a great motorcycle. This sport was dominated by the Japanese for so long, but now the European manufacturers are probably leading the way.”
Bagnaia is the first Italian to win the title since Rossi in 2009 and he is the fourth different champion since 2019, highlighting the exceptional parity in MotoGP. He is also the first Italian rider to win the championship on an Italian bike since Giacomo Agostini in 1972.
While Bagnaia undoubtedly deserves the plaudits, BT Sport commentator Gavin Emmett was quick to heap praise on the exceptional performance of Quartararo over the course of the season. The 23-year-old won four races as hit title defence came up agonisingly short at the final hurdle.
“I think we’ve seen this weekend how much of a deserving champion [Fabio] Quartararo is,” Emmet added. “He’s fought tooth and nail aboard an uncompetitive Yamaha - it’s a bit like taking a gun to a knife fight. It’s not like Fabio has thrown it away by any means - Bagnaia has won it. He’s won the races and he deserves it, which is remarkable because he has five DNFs and many of them were his own making.”
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