There were only 14 finishers
as Alex Rins (LCR Honda), Miller,
Fernandez, Enea Bastianini
(Ducati Lenovo Team), Martin,
Marquez and Bezzecchi all
crashed out.
The championship finishes
with Bagnaia successfully de
-
fending his title in a season with
no
back-to-back race winners,
a phenomenon that has not
happened since 1949, the very
first year of the World Champi
-
onship. Bagnaia's total was 467
points
from Martin's 428 and
Bezzecchi, making it two VR46
Academy riders in the top three
with 329. Binder was fourth at
293 and Zarco in his final Ducati
MotoGP season fifth at 225.
race because it was the best
way to finish the season."
However, there was late
drama as Diggia was handed a
three-second penalty for running
under-inflated tires and dropped
to fourth, thus promoting Zarco
to second and Binder to third.
Raul Fernandez (CryptoDATA
RNF MotoGP Team) earned his
best result of the season with
a fifth. Alex Marquez was sixth,
with Franco Morbidelli (Monster
Energy Yamaha MotoGP) cap
-
ping off his Yamaha career with
seventh.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia
Racing), Luca Marini in his final
Mooney VR46 Racing Team ap
-
pearance and Vinales rounded
out the final
top 10 of 2023.
There was just Bagnaia ahead
but try as he might, Diggia
couldn't find a way past and Ba-
gnaia sealed the 2023 MotoGP
World
Championship with a
victory ahead of Di Giannantonio
and Zarco.
"I'm super happy, more than
this is impossible, also because
we won the race so it's fantas
-
tic," Bagnaia said. "I want to say
a big thanks to
all the team, they
did an amazing job. From Barce-
lona, it was quite tough for us,
but
we deserved this title more
than anyone. I didn't see any-
thing behind me. I was thinking
Jorge
was still in the race, and
I was quite scared about that. I
just was thinking of winning the
ROUND 20 / NOVEMBER 24-26, 2023
RICARDO TORMO CIRCUIT / VALENCIA, SPAIN
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P58
To the winner go
the spoils. Luca
Marini (10) and Aleix
Espargaro (41) come
to congratulate
Bagnaia.
