If your schedule permits, you should book a time around 8 a.m. EST on Sunday, November 6. This is when the 20th and final round of the Motul-backed 2022 MotoGP season will be broadcast from Circuit Ricardo Tormo, outside of Valencia, Spain. There are apps, there is REV TV for Canadian cable/satellite subscribers and there are various other…ahem…methods.
The World Championship title will be decided in MotoGP’s spiritual Spanish home, although Lenovo Ducati factory rider Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia of Italy is certainly the clear favourite to earn his first career crown after playing catch-up for much of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship campaign. The reigning World Champion, Monster Energy Yamaha works star Fabio Quartararo, held the points lead until the wheels came off of the Frenchman’s formerly consistent campaign during the recent string of away races.
Currently, Bagnaia leads with 258 points, while Quartararo is 23 points back. With just 25 points up for grabs, it doesn’t look good for current world number one Quartararo.
Last season, Bagnaia played catch-up too, but a couple of late-season forced errors gave Quartararo the edge. The current state of play suggests that the eight Ducatis on the grid (one third of the total entries) have the edge, but Ducati’s strong suit is top speed, not a major concern at Valencia.
In the most recent round, the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia, other Ducati young guns certainly put the pressure on Bagnaia, but he managed it well. Prima Pramac’s Jorge Martin had the race under control until he crashed from first on lap 14 of 29, setting up a battle for the win between Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini’s Gresini-Duc.
Next year, Bastianini will be the other works Ducati rider in the now Bagnaia-led Italian program, since popular Aussie Jack Miller opted (was forced?) to leave to head the up-and-down KTM effort. The works Ducati team management staged significant theatre during the Malaysian event, obviously worried about a potential coming together between their 2023 “A” Team.
Currently, racers read their pit boards once a lap on the front straight and, of course, they read each others’ boards too – video covers it all. Competitors also get information on the dashboard of their bikes, although the level of difficulty to digest this info at speed varies mightily from racer to racer.
It is also certain that Ducati have discussed the points possibilities with their group and Johann Zarco certainly yielded a spot for Bagnaia in the rain in Thailand’s round 17.
“Team orders” are legal in MotoGP, however, just how they’re conducted and acknowledged varies widely. So far, the two-wheeled world has not generated the same kind of controversy that often happens in auto Grand Prix with Formula One.
Ducati, long focused on the World Superbike series, have one MotoGP World Championship to their credit – Casey Stoner taking the crown in 2007.
Over thirty years ago, Davide Tardozzi lost the World Superbike Championship in the final event, after various issues with the works Bimota-Yamaha. Now the Lenovo Ducati Team Manager, Tardozzi explained on a MotoGP podcast that “we have always said to the riders, don’t do something too dangerous between Ducati riders. It’s obvious that, in the last races, if one position gives us the championship or not, we will give the team orders. We are not stupid.”
For his part, Bagnaia explains that “I’m just missing two points, so I will have to finish 14th if Fabio wins. It is easy to say now, but it will be very tough because sometimes when you are careful you have more trouble, you have more mistakes, you have more distractions. I will try just to do a normal weekend, maybe with less crashes.”
Back on-track at Malaysia, there were several close calls in the fight at the front and many insiders figured that Bagnaia would settle for second-place and take a solid points haul. Instead, Pecco kept the lead and Bastianini couldn’t find a safe way past.
Meanwhile, surprisingly not far behind, Quartararo overcame qualifying issues (broken finger) and a poor grid position to make an amazing start and wind up in podium contention, netting a most impressive third-place overall and keeping him in with a shot – an exceedingly long shot – at retaining his title.
Still, Quartararo struggles to get past the army of Desmosedicis and he needs to qualify well and get a good start to have a chance at the win – even if Bagnaia doesn’t score points, a win is essential for Quartararo, so he’ll need to be all-out, all weekend.
Yamaha’s relative weakness in the series is a major discussion point. For a builder that was once dominant, the fact that they don’t even have a satellite squad to support the “A” team next year is a major cause for concern.
However, Quartararo’s teammate, Franco Morbidelli, has emerged from a forgettable season to show some real pace as of late. So maybe Quartararo will have a tail gunner to support his attack next weekend. At this point, Valentino Rossi protege Morbidelli is riding for his career.
Wet weather would not be much help to Quartararo’s plans, since he has struggled in mixed conditions lately. However, the predictions are solid for the easter coast of Spain, so the top guns should fight it out on a dry track, in near ideal conditions.
My money for the win, and the certain end of Quartararo’s reign, would be on the Repsol-Honda of Marc Marquez. The eight-time World Champ is mostly recovered from desperation “hail Mary” surgery on his right shoulder and believes that Valencia’s primarily right-hand-turn layout favours his current physical condition.
Marquez missed seven races in 2022 and, since his comeback, has mostly worked his way into contention, weekend by weekend. It remains to be seen if he can return to his superstar status of pre-2020, but it is certain that some of the younger MotoGP front runners are starting to see first-hand the style of performance that they have watched through their school days.
Also fun to consider is the positioning of various racers currently or formerly involved with Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Academy. This list includes MotoGP points leader Bagnaia, as well as on-the-rise Marco Bezzecchi, who currently leads Rossi’s new Mooney-backed Ducati effort. Rossi races for Audi in auto endurance and Audi currently owns Ducati.
– Colin Fraser
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