Francesco Bagnaia entered the Valencian Grand Prix knowing he needed to score only 11 points, a position of fifth or better, to secure his second consecutive MotoGP championship. He narrowly edged Fabio Di Giannantonio and Johan Zarco in a dramatic battle by less than 4/10ths of a second to cap off his campaign in style. Di Giannantonio was penalized for low tire pressure, elevating Zarco to second.
But the title was actually determined much earlier in the race when Bagnaia’s championship rival Jorge Martin crashed with Marc Marquez on Lap 5 of the 27-lap race. Marquez’s hopes of ending his Honda career on a high note disappeared in a cloud of gravel. Perhaps more important, Martin’s title aspirations were gone.
Bagnaia controlled the championship battle from the start after inheriting the pole position when Maverik Vinales was penalized three spots for ignoring the black and orange flag in warmups. After billowing smoke in that session, he was required to pull over immediately to insure he was not dropping fluid on the track, but he continued to the pits.
Bagnaia grabbed the holeshot after being gifted the pole, but he was unable to shake Martin who had an incredible launch and was quickly in second after lining up sixth on the grid. The two battled until Lap 3 when Martin and Bagnaia collided slightly. Martin dropped back to eighth from contact, losing 2.5 seconds in the process.
The #MotoGP title-deciding moment! 💥@88jorgemartin collected @marcmarquez93, crashed out and said goodbye to his title chances! 🏆#ValenciaGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/GvhQsyLGX5
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 26, 2023
With significant ground to make up, Martin passed Vinales on Lap 6 but when he attempted to pass Marquez the two made contact. Marquez highsided and the two Spaniards saw their race end.
Running third at the time behind Brad Binder and Jack Miller, Bagnaia had nothing to lose in challenging for the win.
A mistake by Binder on Lap 11 elevated Bagnaia to second. Miller crashed seven laps later, handing the lead to Bagnaia.
Di Giannantonio and Zarco tucked into Bagnaia’s wake but could not execute the pass for the lead. Binder recovered from his earlier incident to cross the finish line fourth before being elevated to the final podium position with the Di Giannantonio’s penalty.
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