Bagnaia and Quartararo are clear for Sunday

Pecco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo they declared themselves “ready” for the last fight of the year, the one that should decide the title of MotoGP champion this Sunday. His Media Day was not too different from the other Media Days in Cheste where the title was decided, first posing in front of photographers on their motorcycles and dressed as a rider and later with more relaxed clothing, including polos shirt of their teams, to face the official press conference before the Grand Prix of the Valencian Community. And among them was the magnificent Tower of Champions that accompanied them on the track and in the Cheste press conference room, untouched by superstition and out of respect for its history.

A Bagnaia appealed to “be wise”, another Quartararo “I have nothing to lose”, resigned to his fate that he had so little choice that it was a surprise. To revalidate his crown he needs to win and Bagnaia needs to add a maximum of one point, which is 15th. The margin to be smart for the Italian is huge: it’s worth finishing the race in the top 14.

“We have to keep pushing the same, but be smart, because we are in a better position than Fabio, although we have to finish him off. I am very good at this circuit and the bike is very competitive, but we already know that MotoGP is a box of surprises and many things can happen”, recalled the Italian.

Pecco and Fabio have known Cheste since their CEV stage, although the Italian has always been a year ahead of the French (one was born in 1997 and the other in 1999). Fabio’s only victories came at CEV in 2013 and 2014 and in 2019 he finished second behind Marc Márquez. Pecco was the last winner at Cheste in MotoGP, a weekend plagued by crashes.

Not only for Ducati, which has not won the title since 2007 with Stoner, the championship this 2022. It is also important for Valentino Rossi who in 2014 launched the VR46 Academy to equip the promising Italian riders of the moment, with Pecco who is a founding member of the best way to develop. Morbidelli is his first Moto2 champion and now Bagnaia, who is his first champion for his Sky VR46 team in Moto2, can become his first MotoGP champion and the first Italian since Vale himself in 2009. Rossi from the box. of his team in the Mooney VR46 and on the track, as Bagnaia revealed.

“It’s great that he is here and he will help me a lot. He knows this situation, he knows how I feel and he will help me from the track as if he were a ‘coach'”.

THE ACCOUNTS TO BECOME A MOTOGP CHAMPION

Bagnaia is a champion if…
1. Quartararo did not win the race
2. Finish 14th or better, regardless of what Quartararo does
3. Finish 15th or worse and Quartararo doesn’t win

Quartararo is a champion if…
1. Win the race and Bagnaia is 15th or worse

Few doubt that he is going to be the champion because a 23-point lead is not one to be wasted: “First you have to win and then think about what it means, I’m not going to the top, I’m keeping my feet on the ground, they need Three more days before the possibility of becoming champions. Surely something will change, but now I am focused on the main goal,” said Bagnaia.

And sitting on the other side of the Tower of Champions Fabio Quartararo resigned because of what Yamaha is offering him this 2022 he did the miracle of extending the title option until the last race: “I can only win the race and I don’t have anything to lose, so I’ll try to give my best and although I know it’s not the ideal situation to win the championship, it’s a good situation to face this race”.

“Whatever happens, it will be a good year where we learn a lot. Before starting the season we had bad news about the bike because after asking for an extra engine, it didn’t come, so I didn’t have a good start to the season, because I was complaining a lot and I wasn’t fully focused, but I had a good first part of the season, and the second part wasn’t bad, but a lot of riders advanced and we got stuck,” Quartararo recalled.

“We made some mistakes, but in general terms, you learn when you have a difficult season like this. We have accumulated a lot of experience that will serve us for the future,” he settled.