Italian rider Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) became MotoGP World Champion for the first time in his career today, finishing ninth at the Valencia GP in a race in which Miguel Oliveira (KTM) finished fifth.
The race was won by Spaniard Alex Rins (Suzuki), who left South African Brad Binder (KTM) in second with 0.396 seconds, and compatriot Jorge Martin (Ducati) in third with 1.059 seconds.
With these results, Bagnaia won the drivers’ championship, beating Frenchman Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha), who finished fourth today.
Speaking to Sport TV, the Italian pilot was “very touched” and “proud” of the achievement achieved today.
“I’m very emotional. It’s hard to say, but I’m very satisfied and proud of my team and myself. We’ve done something incredible this year,” the Italian rider underlined.
Bagnaia won the title despite finishing in ninth place.
“My ambition was to finish in the top 5. After the first few laps I had to fight a lot with the front of the bike. It was uncontrollable,” he explained.
An issue that may have arisen after a touch-up with the title contender, Frenchman Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha), in the first few laps of today’s race.
“It was tight, but it never crossed the line. I have to be very satisfied. Fábio is one of the greatest in the paddock. It is unbelievable to have such an opponent,” emphasized the new champion, who succeeds the Frenchman .
After a shaky start to the season, with some crashes in the mix, Francesco Bagnaia felt at the British GP that it was possible to fight for the title.
“At Silverstone I had a difficult weekend and yet we won. We were hungry for wins and, with the exception of Japan, we made no mistakes,” concluded the Ducati rider.
winner profile
Francesco Bagnaia, born 25 years ago in Turin, who stopped Miguel Oliveira from winning the Moto2 title in 2018, soon revealed his taste for motorcycles, after moving to Spain in 2010 to compete in the 125cc championship in the Mediterranean, after winning the European Championship. Mini GP, 2009.
That year he watched on television his idol, Valentino Rossi, win his ninth world title, the last for an Italian, in Sepang, Malaysia.
A feat that comes four years after the last, the Moto2 Championship, achieved in 2018, after an intense battle with Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (KTM), who would eventually take second.
Francesco Bagnaia rose to fame on motorcycles from an early age, to the point that in 2014 he was hired by Rossi’s own VR46 Academy, who has been his mentor ever since.
At that time, he had been competing in the Moto3 World Championship since last year, scoring no points. The best result was a 16th place, achieved in Sepang.
From there it went off. The first podium would arrive in 2015 with Mahindra (manufacturer that Miguel Oliveira has also passed over the past two years).
In 2016 he took his first win, in the Netherlands, repeating the dose… in Malaysia, for the second win of the year and of his career.
Despite not being a huge football fan, ‘Pecco’ as he is known in Italy is a Juventus fan and a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo, who was a pontificate on ‘Vecchia Signora’ in 2018, the year he defeated Miguel Oliveira in the battle for the title of Moto2, with six victories against three of the Portuguese.
That year, he confessed to an Italian newspaper that he dreamed of meeting the Portuguese star.
He reached the premier class in 2019, thanks to Pramac, one of Ducati’s satellite teams.
In 2021, he began to fulfill the transalpine dream. He eventually made it to the Italian marque’s works team and this year became the first Italian since Giacomo Agostini, in 1972, to win the world title on an Italian-made motorcycle (the first title for Ducati was won by Australian Stonemason Casey).
In the summer of 2021, he finally had the chance to meet the Juventus squad (already without Ronaldo), welcomed by Argentinian Paulo Dybala, a friend of Fabio Quartararo, the French Yamaha rider who lost the title to Bagnaia today.
Miguel Oliveira with potential for more
Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (KTM) admitted he had “potential for more” after finishing fifth in the Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana, the final race of the season. A race that marked the farewell of the Portuguese rider to the KTM team.
“It’s an emotional moment. It’s a goodbye to many years of collaboration with KTM, to many achievements, to many shared emotions, good and bad, but such is our sport. Miguel Oliveira, talking to Sport TV.
The pilot from Almada ends his seven-year relationship with the Austrian brand, marked by “ups and downs”.
“Sometimes I fell short of what I know I can do, like today, but I’m from 14th…” he noted.
Miguel Oliveira finished the championship in 10th place.
“In this elite group, with the bike we had, with the ups and downs, 10th place is not bad,” he underlined.
The Portuguese driver also explained that he had problems with the front tire at the start of the race.
“Fifth place today gives the feeling that we already knew we would have the potential for more. I had too much pressure in the front tire until eight laps to go. It’s practically impossible to overtake like that and I almost crashed several times,” he emphasized.
Finally, Miguel Oliveira revealed that “the bosses are all saying that soon” he will return to KTM.
“For now, at midnight, my focus has already changed and I’m very excited about what’s to come,” he concluded.
Source: DN
