MotoGP
Italy celebrates the first title in the queen displacement since Valentino Rossi in 2009 and also Ducati’s first success with a transalpine rider in half a century
Everyone knows Francesco Bagnaia (01/14/1997, Turin) as ‘Pecco’. A nom de guerre that has a childhood origin, as it was the way in which his older sister, Carola, pronounced his name as children. “No one calls me Francesco anymore. In addition, I do not respond to that name, nor do I realize that they are talking to me if they call me Francesco ». In the paddock it’s Pecco, of course, because he hasn’t stopped being that familiar kid who always escapes to Chivasso, a city near Turin where his parents live and all his friends are.
Pecco’s love of motorcycles comes from home. His father was passionate about racing and since he was little he took him to the circuits with his uncle. This one had several Ducati, and from there arose that symbiosis with a brand that the very purists in Italy compare with Ferrari, despite the fact that it does not have the glorious past that the brand of the ‘Cavallino Rampante’. In fact, Bagnaia’s title is only the second for the Bologna factory in the world championship. He had only achieved it before with Casey Stoner in 2007, with whom he also shares his current chief mechanic, who was also the Australian’s on his day.
If Ducati has been slow to repeat its success, the country with the greatest tradition in motorcycling has had to wait even longer to achieve another historic milestone. And it is that exactly fifty years have passed since an Italian rider did not conquer the premier class with an Italian motorcycle. The last one had been the legendary Giacomo Agostini with MV Agusta in 1972. That is why the 2022 title has a special value in a brand deeply rooted in the heart of the ‘tifossi’.
Pecco’s first steps in the competition were with a minibike. In 2009 he was proclaimed European MiniGP champion and that success is what ended up encouraging the Bagnaia family to throw themselves into the career of young Pecco. In 2011 and 2012 he competed in the Spanish speed championship, finishing third both times. It was the previous step to the World Cup, where he debuted in 2013 without scoring in his premiere year.
It was not that child prodigy who made noise since he arrived. In fact, it took him four years to win his first race, already in Jorge Martínez Aspar’s team and in his last year in the small category. In 2017 he made the jump to the intermediate category and immediately found his place in the championship. A year later he was proclaimed Moto2 world champion and ensured his future in MotoGP by signing with Ducati.
In the queen class he debuted in the brand’s satellite structure, Pramac Racing, and with the number 63. It was not his usual number, 21, which was located at that time. He had already had to change it in Moto2, when he chose 42. «I chose it because he was 21 + 21. I would have liked to get to MotoGP with it, but Álex Rins used it, so I had to choose the 63, which is 42+21». Since he landed in MotoGP he used another of his mottos that have always accompanied him in the suit. ‘Go free’ and which has a curious origin: «I’ve always liked ‘Hakuna Matata’ by The Lion King. One year in Japan a fan told me ‘Enjoy and go free’ (enjoy and be free) and I liked it a lot. I have never known who said it and I would love for that person to write to me and say ‘it’s me’, because she gave me something that I now always carry with me».
He spent two years at Pramac before joining the official team. The Bagnaia explosion began in the second half of last year. After winning his first GP at Aragón in a head-to-head duel with Márquez, he had four wins in the last six races and was runner-up. He started 2022 with the title contender for the first time, but an uneven start almost ruined his season. He was 91 points behind Quartararo at the halfway point in the championship, but from then on he made a spectacular comeback, the largest in the history of the premier class, to become champion in Valencia, with seven wins, ten podiums, five poles and three fastest laps to his credit.
Rossi’s student
The tricolor’s last title in MotoGP was that of Valentino Rossi in 2009. It has rained a lot since then and while Italy has passed its particular journey in the desert, Spain won ten of the twelve championships in the golden age of Spanish motorcycling. With Rossi he unites much more than that succession in the record. Pecco Bagnaia is the jewel in the crown of the VR46 Academy that Valentino launched a decade ago to support young Italian pilots.
Because of his teacher, he moved to Pesaro, next to the Misano circuit where he trains with the rest of the Academy’s students, creating a bond that goes beyond the professional. And for Pecco, Valentino Rossi is much more than a reference, he is a sports father, that is why he could not miss the celebration of the title of a disciple who is now more than a student, he is a worthy successor.
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