Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini
Racing Ducati) trailed Bagnaia
home in sixth from Marco Bez
-
zecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati),
Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing
Ducati), Johann Zarco (Prima
Pramac Racing) and Augusto Fer-
nandez (GasGas Factory Racing
Tech3) rounding out the top 10.
Sunday
Grand Prix
As the final race of the season
dawned, Jorge Martin knew he
needed a minor miracle to claim
the 2023 MotoGP World Cham-
pionship.
The Spaniard was 14 points
behind Bagnaia heading into the
Sunday Grand Prix, and he made
very nearly the best possible
start from sixth on the grid, but
pole man Bagnaia made a better
one. He jetted off into the lead
at turn one and Martin had to
Marquez, but it was Martin who
needed the win more than anyone
else if he was to recover the 21
points to Bagnaia by the close of
the weekend to claim the title.
Lap six saw Binder have a
crack at the lead at turn four, only
for Vinales to immediately coun
-
terattack, and a lap later, Marquez
had a real go at Martin at turn six,
so much so he left a massive tire
mark on Martin's left shoulder.
Despite the shenanigans
ahead of him, Bagnaia just
couldn't close the gap to the
leading quartet and Martin
needed to get a move on. He
dispensed with Vinales and then
charged after Binder, nabbing
him on lap eight at turn 11.
Binder was refusing to let him
go but there was nothing the
South African could do about it
and Martin took his ninth and
most important Sprint Race
win of the season. Binder came
up 0.190 seconds short from
Marquez in a farewell Sprint
Race podium to Repsol Honda,
with Vinales carding fourth and
Bagnaia holding onto fifth by the
skin of his teeth.
threw it up the inside of Bagnaia
at turn six and immediately lost
the front-end, very nearly taking
Bagnaia with him.
Up front, it was line astern be
-
tween Vinales, Binder, Martin and
VOLUME ISSUE NOVEMBER , P55
44 POL ESPARGARO
13TH/14TH MOTOGP
"Wow, an emotional day," Pol Espar-
garo said. "The race, technically, was
good and I was feeling stronger than
I had all season but then I crashed.
Maybe I was pushing just a bit too
much. I wanted to get to that check-
ered flag and even had some points.
I really enjoyed the weekend with the
guys, the crew, so a big thanks to them
and now we look towards the future."
MYOWNRACE
Valencia MotoGP Sprint Race
