Back to back, with the cherry on top of the GP win
The encore is served. Pecco Bagnaia is MotoGP world champion for the second consecutive year. This time too the title came at the last race, in the grand finale in Valencia, but the difference is that compared to ninth place in the race 12 months ago, this time the centaur from Chivasso took away the whim of win the World Championship while also taking the top step of the podium in the race. A well-deserved success and proudly underlined by the #1 of Ducati himself, who after the GP, on the microphones of Sky Sports MotoGPexpressed in words all his joy after a very busy year, closing in a sprint but once again with a smile.
“The ‘cool’ thing is that I won the championship by winning the race – Pecco exulted – I’ve always dreamed of it and it’s beautiful“. The experience of 2022 helped Bagnaiawho despite a ranking situation that was decidedly more in the balance than that of last year, explained that he experienced the Valencia event with much more serenity: “This year I was more calm. In 2022 we were in a better situation, it was almost an empty net goal, yet I felt terrible and had a lot of pressure on me – He admitted – today and throughout the weekend I was more ready because I knew perfectly well that we go significantly stronger on Sundays, for some reason“.
The ‘Martin out’ sign
The race wasn’t easy for battle with Martin in the first laps and above all because Bagnaia revealed nonot having understood until the end of the race that he was already championbecause Jorge himself had knocked himself out during the sixth lap: “I immediately got in front and managed to pull away a bit. I felt that the tires weren’t working well enough and I let the others pass to raise the temperature, I did a normal race and concentrated on that. I didn’t think completely about the championship and in the end it went well, even if the last five laps I was a bit scared because I felt cold and I was afraid for the front tyre, especially when changing direction. When Miller laid down I thought it was tough, but it was fine. I didn’t see the ‘Martin out’ sign, I thought he was fourth and I feared that if I crashed he would win the title by finishing third. I didn’t know anything until the last lap. In the duel with me, what happened to me in Qatar happened to Martin. You can’t do anything there, you get sucked in. We took a big risk because if he had caught me full on he would have thrown me, but in the end it went well. From then on he had to push hard and it was hard for him.”.
The fear of Barcelona
Bagnaia then confirmed wanting to race again in 2024 with #1brought back by him to win a world championship for the first time by Mick Doohan in 1998, and underlined how the fall of Barcelonain which he also risked a lot in terms of his health, was actually a watershed moment in his season. “Subconsciously the accident in Barcelona slowed me down quite a bit – he concluded – not so much in Misano, because I came back straight away. There I couldn’t move my knee but I managed to get a result that led me to lose only 14 points, instead of 37, so it went well. In the following races however, every time it was time to do the time attack I was no longer able to push as before. However, I achieved a lot of podiums, except in India where I crashed, and we were always consistent and competitive on Sunday, while I lacked the explosiveness I had before on Saturday. If I had finished 2nd in the World Championship it would have been a failure having the #1 on the bike, especially after the season we had, almost always remaining first in the standings. On Saturday we always left something to Martin, while on Sunday we were always the strongest. So we deserved it, we should have won it and I’m very happy.”.
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