Since the modern four-stroke era of MotoGP was introduced in 2022, four championship battles have been fought to the wire.
For the first time since 2017, this year’s championship fight has been kept alive through to the Valencia decider, with Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo squaring up against each other for glory.
The scales are weighted in Bagnaia’s favour, as the Ducati rider holds a 23-point lead having amassed seven wins in 2022.
Reigning world champion Quartararo must win the grand prix at Ricardo Tormo if he is to have any hope of winning the championship, with Bagnaia needing to finish at least 14th to secure Ducati’s first title in 15 years.
PLUS: Why the 2023 MotoGP title battle has already begun
Ahead of this weekend’s decider in Valencia, Autosport looks back over MotoGP’s four previous championship finales.
During Marquez’s era of MotoGP dominance, Dovizioso pushed him closest in 2017
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
2017 – Marquez vs Dovizioso
Much like in 2022, the 2017 title decider in Valencia saw a Ducati rider try to end the Italian marque’s championship drought.
Despite Ducati signing three-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo to do that job – and for a considerable sum of money – it was Dovizioso who ultimately emerged as its title hopeful.
The Italian won six times across the 2017 season, and scored a crucial victory at the Malaysian GP to keep his title hopes alive against Marc Marquez through to the final round showdown in Valencia.
Honda rider Marquez led Dovizioso by 21 points coming to Valencia, with Dovizioso needing to win the race to have any hope of taking the title away from the reigning champion.
The race, ultimately, did not go Dovizioso’s way. Qualifying down in ninth, Dovizioso would get stuck behind team-mate Lorenzo in the early stages of the race, with Ducati issuing the latter with a team order to move out of the way.
Lorenzo did not obey this, but it would prove immaterial anyway as Dovizioso would crash out on lap 25 of 30 while running in fourth.
Marquez almost came to blows when leading at the start of lap 23, as the Honda rider lost the front-end on the way into Turn 1 – though spectacularly stayed on his bike to finish third and win a fourth premier class title.
Potentially the biggest MotoGP title decider in the modern era was tinged with controversy
Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation
2015 – Lorenzo vs Rossi
The 2015 Valencia title decider was arguably…
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