Jakarta – Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali says Francesco Bagnaia’s MotoGP title is a much greater achievement than Casey Stoner’s.
Ducati’s collection of MotoGP world titles has finally increased to two. After Stoner won the inaugural championship in 2007, the Italian manufacturer triumphed again in 2022 with Bagnaia.
Bagnaia’s journey to the title was intense, with the Italian having to fight it out with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo all the way until the final round.
Initially disappointing in the first half of the season, Bagnaia bounced back after retiring at Sachsenring. Winning five of the next nine races, he gradually closed the gap to Quartararo.
In the decisive Valencia MotoGP round, Bagnaia actually finished ninth. However, his points total was enough to lead by 17 over Quartararo, sealing the 2022 championship for Bagnaia.
Domenicali pointed precisely to that moment. He said that Bagnaia’s 2022 title win came in an unconventional manner, making it clearly better than Stoner’s journey in 2007.
“It was an unforgettable season. We’ve never had a result like this before, and it’s a great source of pride,” Domenicali said, as quoted by GPOne on Thursday, December 22nd.
“This is different from the 2007 season when we won the MotoGP title with Stoner, but we achieved it before the last race,”
“This victory with Pecco was really tough, a great chase that makes it even better than previous championship records,” the boss commented.
