Motorcycle Racing

All aboard the Bagnaia express at Misano?

All aboard the Bagnaia express at Misano?

The Italian is the in-form rider with three wins in a row and Misano is a favoured stomping ground too

Another Grand Prix rears its head in 2022 as we get set for the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, meaning it’s another weekend of important decisions in MotoGP™ Fantasy. The question is: is it all aboard the Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) express?

The ideal team from Austria

GOLD: Francesco Bagnaia (36)
GOLD: Luca Marini (34)
CONSTRUCTOR: Ducati (35)
SILVER: Fabio Quartararo (32)
SILVER: Marco Bezzecchi (29)

As expected, race winner Bagnaia came out on top in terms of points, closely followed by VR46 Academy stablemate Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing) as the Italian climbed from P13 on the grid to finish a career-best P4. The sensational effort from Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) made sure it wasn’t complete domination from Ducati, while Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) claimed a nice 29-point haul after his P20 to P9 rise on Sunday.

Is Bagnaia now a must-have?

After three wins from the last three races, Bagnaia is now the most owned rider in the game with 18,566 players either enjoying his recent run or wanting a piece of the action. Even before a wheel has been turned in anger at Misano, 356 players have already transferred him in – and for good reason. Pecco won on home soil last year and it should have been two if it wasn’t for a crash out of the lead in the Emilia-Romagna GP.

Basically, players should be trying to make Bagnaia their top priority ahead of the San Marino GP. Now at $4.7m, Pecco is joint with Quartararo on being the most expensive rider in the game. That means getting him in, without wanting to sell someone like Quartararo if you own the World Championship leader, is tricky. Tough decisions lie ahead.