How Bagnaia staged the greatest comeback in MotoGP history

When Francesco Bagnaia crashed at the German Grand Prix in June, the Ducati rider was 91 points behind reigning champion Fabio Quartararo, an enormous lead that had never been overhauled in MotoGP history. Until this season.

Bagnaia came agonisingly close in 2021 when the Italian pushed Quartararo all the way before a crash with two races left handed his Yamaha rival the title.

But Bagnaia’s comeback this season, the greatest in MotoGP history, saw Ducati clinch the title after 15 years as he sealed the championship in Valencia on Sunday and finally ended the dominance of Japanese manufacturers Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki.

“It was an amazing victory. I was feeling the weight on my shoulders to bring back this title to my team Ducati and to Italy,” Bagnaia told reporters.

“I’m very proud of my team, of myself, of what we did because it's incredible.”

The start of the 2022 season was far from ideal for preseason favourite Bagnaia, however, when he began with a crash in Qatar as he struggled to come to grips with a new Ducati.

His first victory came in the sixth round in Jerez.

But just as Bagnaia felt that he was back to his best and set to challenge Quartararo, the 25-year-old failed to find consistency, with one more win in Italy sandwiched between three retirements.

The 91-point deficit midway through the year looked daunting but Bagnaia put his head down and soldiered on, taking things race by race.

His patience paid off and the season quickly became a story of two halves as Quartararo began to flounder.

The Frenchman, who won three races in the first half of the season, did not win again while he also failed to finish three times.

Meanwhile, Bagnaia won four in a row to shoot up the standings, leapfrogging other contenders Aleix Espargaro and Enea Bastianini in the standings.

By then Quartararo was nervously looking over his shoulder and, before he knew it, Bagnaia had forged ahead with three more podiums.

Luck ran out for the Frenchman, who was denied points when former champion Marc Marquez crashed into him at Aragon.

His bike’s straight-line speed was also no match for Ducati as much as he tried, and he eventually relinquished the championship lead to Bagnaia in Australia with another crash.

By the time they reached the penultimate race in Malaysia, Bagnaia was one with the Ducati machine.

He produced a near-flawless display to win the race from ninth on the grid - which he described as the “best ever start to a race in my life” — to all but seal the title.

With just a top-14 finish required in the finale at Valencia on Sunday, Bagnaia held all the cards and even gave Quartararo a tough time early in the race, nudging him to remind the Yamaha rider that he was not backing down.

After an engrossing battle, ninth place at Valencia gave Bagnaia his maiden title and made him the first Italian champion since Valentino Rossi, who won the last of his seven MotoGP titles in 2009.

SA-built Hilux wins inaugural World Rally-Raid championship

Following its victory in this year’s Dakar Rally in January, the Toyota Gazoo Hilux has gone on to scoop the manufacturer’s title in the inaugural World Rally-Raid championship.

It therefore becomes the first SA-built car to win a world championship. Hiluxes won the FIA world cup for Cross-Country Rallies in 2016, 2017 and 2021, but the World Rally-Raid is a more prestigious title with full world championship status.

Toyota Gazoo Racing finished the four-round season with 163 points, ahead of second-placed Bahrain Raid Xtreme on 135. Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar is the 2022 driver’s champion and the highlight of his year was winning the season-opening Dakar Rally.

The racing Hilux is built at Hallspeed in Midrand, which has been competing in SA and overseas since the 1990s under the leadership of team principal Glyn Hall.

“This really is a stunning result not only for our drivers but for the 40+ Hallspeed employees who have worked so relentlessly on the car,” said Hall.

FIA head warns online abuse will destroy F1 unless stopped

The head of Formula One’s governing body warned on Tuesday that online abuse, including death threats, against volunteers and officials would destroy the sport if left unchecked.

International Automobile Federation (FIA) President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said a female steward recently received death threats while staff had been targeted with harassment and hate posts for years.

“The level of sustained toxicity has reached crisis point. It is time for all of us to unite — and to act,” he said in an op-ed piece published on motorsport.com and the FIA website.

Spanish race steward Silvia Bellot was targeted after compatriot and double world champion Fernando Alonso was penalised at the US Grand Prix in Austin and then reinstated a few days later on review.

Ben Sulayem said such abuse had a devastating effect on the mental health of officials and volunteers, without whom there would be no racing.

New and younger audiences have been attracted by the Netflix docu-series Drive to Survive but commentators have noted fans becoming more “tribal” as the sport surges in popularity.

Last season’s final race triggered controversy with Max Verstappen denying Lewis Hamilton a record eighth title after now-departed FIA race director Michael Masi changed the safety car procedure.

Masi revealed in July he had received online death threats, while Verstappen and Hamilton spoke out in Mexico last month about social media becoming increasingly toxic. 

Formula One in July launched a “Drive it Out” initiative after incidents of racist and homophobic behaviour by spectators and the sexual harassment of female fans at races.