Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia is the latest rider to win back-to-back championships in the premier class since Marc Marquez in 2019. The 2023 season of MotoGP came to a close with the final round at Valencia, with Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi completing the top three in the championship. Ducati won the constructor’s trophy with nearly twice the points as KTM, with Aprilia rounding off the top three.
How the race transpired:
There was drama aplenty at the final round, as Bagnaia did not have enough cushion in points to secure the championship. Though he started from pole after Maverick Viñales was handed out a pre-race penalty, Jorge Martin, the only other title contender going into the season finale, was on his tail. Martin ran wide on lap three, dropping to eighth, before coming into contact with Marc Marquez, who was on his final race with Repsol Honda. They both crashed out of the race.
Bagnaia held onto the lead up to this point but was overtaken by the KTM of Brad Binder, with his teammate Jack Miller running him down. However, both KTM riders made mistakes and Binder crashed out, handing the lead back to Bagnaia. Pecco successfully defended his lead from Johann Zarco, and later Di Giannantonio who overtook Zarco and hounded Bagnaia on the final lap.
There was some more drama left in store as Giannantonio was handed a 3-second post-race time penalty dropping him down to fourth, moving Zarco and Binder up to the final steps of the podium.
