All eyes will be on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo heading into the final weekend of the season as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) go head-to-head again, battling for the MotoGP World Championship title, ahead of what looks set to be another hugely exciting weekend of racing action. Who will emerge on top and win the title after a thriller in Qatar?
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The race for the MotoGP World Championship is nearing its conclusion heading into the Valencia Grand Prix, with Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin in contention to win the title.
Reigning world champion Bagnaia currently leads the standings with 437 points, but has Martin breathing down his neck on 416.
Neither rider came out on top the weekend just gone in Qatar as another Ducati rider, Fabio Di Giannantonio, stunned Bagnaia in the final stages to take the first win of his career.
But Bagnaia’s strong performances in Qatar saw him increase his lead at the top of the standings.
Meanwhile, there are also prizes for the Teams’ Championship, Best Independent Team, and Rookie of the Year on offer.
The Valencia MotoGP Grand Prix will be shown live on TNT Sports and discovery+, and here is the current state of play heading into the final weekend if racing action.
HOW CAN FRANCESCO BAGNAIA WIN THE MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP THIS WEEKEND?
Bagnaia starts the final race weekend of the season with a 21-point lead over Martin. The most amount of points Martin can get over the weekend is 37 should he win both the sprint and the race.
That means that Bagnaia can theoretically win the championship in the sprint. If Martin finished 10th or lower (i.e. out of the points) Bagnaia will need to finish fifth or higher.
Bagnaia effectively needs to finish with a gap of five points of more between himself and Martin in the sprint. If he does that the gap will be 26 points or higher which means that even if Martin wins the race and gets the full 25 points (and Bagnaia fails to finish or start) he will be unable to make up the gap.
HOW CAN JORGE MARTIN WIN THE MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP THIS WEEKEND?
After a difficult race in Qatar things are looking tough for Martin. He really needs to finish in the top two of the sprint to take it to the final race. Finishing second or higher is the only way he can guarantee doing that regardless of Bagnaia’s result.
He will also need to hope that Bagnaia has a tough race that means by finishing on the podium on Sunday he can pounce and perhaps sneak in to take the title.
