(Reuters) – Reigning MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia has the odds stacked against him in the championship going into the final race of the season in Barcelona, but said on Thursday he would not hold it against title rival Jorge Martin if the Spaniard wins.
Ducati’s Bagnaia, who won the riders championship in the past two seasons, sits 24 points behind Pramac Racing’s Martin ahead of the Solidarity Grand Prix.
The final race is being held in Barcelona, which already hosted a grand prix in May, after catastrophic floods in Valencia forced organisers to move the season finale.
Bagnaia has won 10 races but has also crashed out many times, while Martin’s consistency to finish on podiums and also winning several sprint races on Saturdays gave him a healthy lead in the championship.
Martin only needs to win the sprint on Saturday to be crowned MotoGP champion for the first time and Bagnaia said he would be happy for his former Moto3 teammate to win the premier class crown.
“In terms of mistakes, I did a lot. If you want to be a champion, you have to be more precise, more consistent and Jorge was more consistent than me,” Bagnaia told reporters.
“But in terms of race results, it’s clear that we (Ducati) did a better job, because I won 10 races on Sunday, six races on Saturday. So in terms of pure results, we did a very good job, but I think both of us are deserving the title.
“But in case Jorge wins the title, I will be happy for him because we’ve known each other for a long time. I’m happy that a rider I know very well is deserving of the title.”
Bagnaia won the Catalunya Grand Prix in May but the Italian had crashed out on the final lap of the sprint when he was leading the race.
The 27-year-old also said he would not resort to mind games, like Martin did in Valencia last year when the Spaniard was behind him in the title race ahead of the final grand prix.
“The only thing I will do is if he starts behind me, I will not push because from my side, mind games are not working. So I never did it and I will continue doing my job,” Bagnaia said.
“I think Jorge understood from the experience last year that he just lost time by doing that. So I think it’s better to do your job, prepare perfectly and then decide it in the race.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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