June 2022, Championship Leader Fabio Quartararo held a championship lead by 91 points. A lot of pundits including us at The Motorsport Hub thought that by the season was already over and Quartararo already had the championship in the bag. By the time we got to Valencia were we to prove wrong…..
The Apprentice
Francesco Bagnaia or “Pecco” as his nickname would make one of the biggest motorsport comebacks of the year but who is the man and how did he manage to claim the title when it looked all hope was lost?
Born in raised in Turin, Italy it seemed like it was fate Bagnaia was destined for great things. Bagnaia learned arguably one of the most successful Moto GP riders of all time, Valentino Rossi. Once Rossi was soon to be retiring from the sport, he set up his own racing academy promoting young Italian talent since 2014. Bagnaia was one of his apprentices.
Participating in Moto 2 & 3 he quickly rose himself through the ranks when he got his opportunity at Moto GP in 2019. Going into the 2022 season, Bagnaia with a strong finish from the previous year, was picked as a Championship favourite for his second year with Ducati but things didn’t go according to plan from the start.
A Sluggish Start
He crashed out of 8th place taking the polesitter and fellow Ducati rider, Jorge Martin out at the opening race at Losail in Qatar. At the second round of the season, at a wet Mandalika circuit, Bagnaia took home a disappointing 15th place, collecting only one point in the opening two races of the season.
Two fifth places at COTA and the Argentinian Grand Prix and an eight place in Portimao then soon followed. Questions was starting to be raised at the Italian outfit.
For Quartararo however it was the complete opposite. True Quartararo didn’t get off to the perfect start but he was the more consistent rider between the pair. Wins in Portugal, Catilonia & Germany he held a commanding lead by the time we got to Holland. Bagnaia currently at that point was outside the Top 5 in the standings he needed a break and he got one.
The Comeback
In what would be the turning point of the season Quartararo on lap 5 at the Dutch GP, he clashed with Aprilla rider Aleix Espargaro. Later in the race crashed again with a big highside that brought an end to his day. As a result of the earlier crash he was to be received a long lap penalty at the next round in Silverstone. It didn’t help either that this would the start of Bagnaia’s amazing comeback run.
He went on to win the next 4 races in Netherlands, Great Britain, at Red Bull Ring and Misano. He made history as the first Ducati rider and only the 4th rider in the MotoGP era to do so. The others being multi world champions Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenz.
In the Thai Grand Prix at Buriram and the Australian Grand Prix at Philip Island, Bagnaia finished in 3rd place while Quartararo failed to score on both occasions, leaving Bagnaia 14 points ahead of him with 2 races to go.
After another solid in Malysia he would increase his lead to 23 points with the finale still to go in Valencia. Pecco would claim the title after finishing 9th and Quartararo who needed to win the race and hoped for a DNF more or less on the Ducati bike could only claim 4th place respectively.
History was made. The first Italian rider to win a world championship since Rossi in ’09 and the first Italian in an Italian bike since Giacomo Agostini in 50 years. It was also Ducati’s first championship win since Casey Stoner back in 2007 and their first back-to-back constructors title.
Raw Power
So how was it possible? It was all down to the powerful Desmosedici GP22 spec. This four-stroke V4 engine racing motorcycle had the potential of being a beast but drilled with reliability and rider error in the previous season, it did not turn off Ducati in focusing a lot of their development time into the bike. Fast in the straights, sharp around tight hairpin sections, Yamaha and its rivals didn’t have any chance.
Can this Ducati dominance continue in 2023? With “The Beast” Enea Bastianini getting the promotion to the main Ducati team it could be one of the most formidable partnerships in recent history. Can Ducati keep these two Thera breads under control through the year or will sparks fly between the pair. Or what about Quartararo or a fully fit Marc Marquez?
Guess we will wait and see…..
