Bagnaia wins MotoGP championship, Miller crashes out of finale

Francesco Bagnaia has won the 2022 MotoGP world championship by finishing a nervous ninth in a Valencia season finale from which factory Ducati team-mate Jack Miller crashed out.

Bagnaia lost a wing when he made contact on just the second lap with his only remaining rival for the title, Fabio Quartararo, by which time eventual race winner Alex Rins had already hit the front.

Rins would, in fact, lead all the way from the start until the chequered flag waved on Lap 27 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo despite qualifying fifth, giving Suzuki its last victory before it leaves MotoGP.

Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder made his way to second place and Jorge Martin completed the podium on a Prima Pramac Ducati.

Behind the #42 GSX-RR as they ran up to the Turn 2 braking zone for the first time had been pole-sitter Martin and Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team), while Marc Marquez emerged fourth and Quartararo fifth.

Quartararo followed Marquez to make a daring move on Miller into fourth position at Turn 8, but the Queenslander forced him wide when he hit back on Lap 2 at Turn 2.

Bagnaia literally hit the #20 YZR-M1 when he took advantage of that pass and spent two laps ahead of Quartararo, costing the Frenchman time to try and get into the first position which he needed in order to have any chance of being crowned champion for this year.

However, Bagnaia would come to lose ground as he circulated with a Desmosedici which was missing its right wing due to that contact.

Miller had passed Marquez for third place by the time the Repsol Honda crashed out on Lap 10 at Turn 8, meaning Quartararo inherited fourth position.

Binder was on a charge and passed Quartararo for fourth on Lap 18, then Miller for third on Lap 23, just after which the Queenslander hit the deck at Turn 11.

The #33 RC16 rider then overtook Martin on the penultimate lap but ran out of time to catch Rins (Suzuki Ecstar), who never got much more than a second clear of the field and ultimately prevailed by 0.396s.

Martin was third and Quartararo fourth, from Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM), Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar), and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati).

Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati) finished eighth after a cautious Bagnaia left a big gap for his future team-mate at Turn 2 on Lap 22, with Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) rounding out the top 10.

Remy Gardner scored three points by finishing 13th, one position behind Tech3 KTM team-mate Raul Fernandez, in his final MotoGP race for the foreseeable future.

Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati) was among those to crash out, while neither Aprilia made the finish and it appeared that technical problems were to blame for the demise of both its riders, Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaro.

The final world championship standings read Bagnaia on 265 points, Quartararo on 248, and Bastianini third on 219, with Espargaro slipping to fourth at seven further back.

Miller finishes the season in fifth and Gardner 23rd, the latter one point behind Fernandez.

Gardner is now off to World Superbikes but much of the field is back on-track in Valencia on Tuesday for a one-day post-season test.

Race results: Valencia MotoGP

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	42	Alex RINS	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	41:22.250
2	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+0.396
3	89	Jorge MARTIN	ESP	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	+1.059
4	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+1.911
5	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+7.122
6	36	Joan MIR	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+7.735
7	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	+8.524
8	23	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	+12.038
9	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	+14.441
10	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+14.676
11	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	+17.655
12	25	Raul FERNANDEZ	ESP	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+24.870
13	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+26.546
14	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	+26.610
15	49	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	+31.819
16	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	+1’28.870
17	73	Alex MARQUEZ	ESP	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	+1 lap
DNF	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	+5 laps
DNF	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	+12 laps
DNF	12	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	+12 laps
DNF	93	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+18 laps
DNF	44	Pol ESPARGARO	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+23 laps
DNF	40	Darryn BINDER	RSA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	+23 laps
DNF	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	+24 laps

Race winner: 27 laps

Riders’ championship

Pos	Rider	Nat	Pts
1	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	265
2	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	248
3	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	219
4	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	212
5	Jack MILLER	AUS	189
6	Brad BINDER	RSA	188
7	Alex RINS	ESP	173
8	Johann ZARCO	FRA	166
9	Jorge MARTIN	ESP	152
10	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	149
11	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	122
12	Luca MARINI	ITA	120
13	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	113
14	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	111
15	Joan MIR	ESP	87
16	Pol ESPARGARO	ESP	56
17	Alex MARQUEZ	ESP	50
18	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	48
19	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	42
20	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	24
21	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	15
22	Raul FERNANDEZ	ESP	14
23	Remy GARDNER	AUS	13
24	Darryn BINDER	RSA	12
25	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	10
26	Stefan BRADL	GER	2
27	Michele PIRRO	ITA	0
28	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	0
29	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	0
30	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	0
31	Kazuki WATANABE	JPN	0