Rins wins in Valencia as Bagnaia is crowned MotoGP champion
Alex Rins made a superb start from fifth as he led into turn one, however, it was Fabio Quartararo who was proving fireworks as he looked to retain his MotoGP title.
Quartararo followed Marc Marquez through on Jack Miller for fourth, but in the process pushed the Ducati rider wide.
Miller then repaid the favour at the beginning of lap two which allowed series leader Bagnaia to come through at turn two, but not before contact was made between the pair.
Bagnaia lost a winglet due to the contact before a very aggressive Quartararo showed the Italian a wheel at every opportunity.
Moves at turns four, six and eight were all made by Quartararo although Bagnaia was able to get back underneath the Frenchman.
Quartararo finally made the move stick on Bagnaia on lap five, with the championship leader immediately finding the pace from the Yamaha man too hot to handle.
Slipping back into the clutches of Brad Binder, contact was nearly made between the two on lap eight.
Doing an impressive job of holding off Binder, Bagnaia’s resistance finally ended on lap nine as the KTM rider swept through at turn 2.
Struggling to hold the pace of Rins, Martin and Miller, Marquez then crashed out of the race at turn eight.
The eight-time world champion’s fall followed crashes for both Alex Marquez and Cal Crutchlow, who were also out of the Grand Prix as a result.
Bagnaia, who was struggling with a lack of downforce aboard his GP-22 machine, was passed by Joan Mir before Miguel Oliveira began applying pressure.
Contact between Oliveira and Bagnaia was nearly made at turn ten on lap 15, however, a clean overtake was then made by the KTM rider on lap 17.
Bagnaia’s drop then continued as he was pushed down to ninth by Marini, whilst at the front Quartararo closed in on both Martin and Miller.
With Rins beginning to check out, Quartararo was looking to find a way through before being relegated to fifth by Binder.
Smelling their first wins of 2022, Martin began closing back in on Rins while Binder took over third place from Miller.
Binder’s overtake on Miller was then followed by the Ducati rider crashing out between turns ten and 11.
With Rins’s lead stabilised at around seven tenths, Binder finally got through on Martin on the penultimate lap.
Binder’s late charge saw him take three tenths of Rins’ lead but it was not enough to stop the Spaniard from winning his second race since Phillip Island.
