Published: 08 Jul 2024
Leaving Stoner in the Dust: Bagnaia Most Successful Ducati Rider
Francesco Bagnaia takes the world championship lead at the Sachsenring and overhauls Casey Stoner as best Ducati rider in MotoGP history.
Francesco Bagnaia simply seems unbeatable at the moment. At the recent MotoGP weekends in Barcelona, Mugello, Assen and most recently at the Sachsenring, the defending champion emerged as the winner of the main races.
With his victory in Germany, Bagnaia moved to the top of the riders’ standings and made Ducati MotoGP history.
Emerging on top after Jorge Martin crashed out of the lead, the Italian took his 24th race win in the premier class to overhaul Ducati legend Casey Stoner and become the Italian manufacturer’s most successful MotoGP rider in history.
Although the race win at the Sachsenring was handed to him on a silver platter, Bagnaia wasn’t surprised by then race leader Jorge Martin’s late fall.
“The high race pace made our lives difficult,” reported the new leader in the standings. “The front was screaming, as was the rear. I constantly had the feeling that the front just wasn’t there through Turn 1.”
According to Bagnaia, Martin simply risked too much: “My feeling is that he wanted to maintain this gap of 0.5 seconds and then braked too hard in turn 1. After his crash, I immediately slowed down. I was too close to the limit, too.”
Whether the Italian would have been able to catch Martin before the end of the race will never be known. Bagnaia is sure he would have caught the Spaniard:
“I think we would have had a nice battle in the last round. But it didn’t come to that. I’m delighted with my fourth win in a row.”
With another win in his pocket, the Italian is brimming with confidence as the MotoGP field heads off for the summer break. “It’s great to be the world championship leader at my wedding.”
