It’s that time of year when MotoGP is all set to sign off for the year and the traditional final race of the season hosted in Valencia could be a cliffhanger as the 2022 Riders’ World Championship leader, Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, holds a 23 points lead over the defending champion Fabio Quartararo. As we hope that these two gladiators battle it out to the last lap, a day before the last Grand Prix, the Ducati rider, Bagnaia, was named the fastest qualifier in the 2022 MotoGP by winning the BMW M Award.
This is the first time Bagnaia has won the prestigious award and the prize is the exclusive BMW M3 Competition Touring with xDrive. Even though the Italian rider may have had a dismal qualifying session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo starting eighth on the grid, four places behind the Yamaha rider, Quartararo, Bagnaia had started from the pole position five times this season. Due to this result, he managed to amass 293 points after 20 races, 11 points ahead of his rival Jorge Martin, to win the BMW M Award.
“I’m so happy to have won the BMW M Award,” said winner Bagnaia. “It has been my goal since I started riding in the MotoGP, and I finally achieved it this year! Huge thanks to BMW M, this appreciation for us as riders really is fantastic. I can’t wait to get in my winner’s car. And now that I have seen the prize that is up for grabs next year, all I can say is that I will be doing my best to defend my BMW M Award victory.”
After handing over the keys of the M3 Competition Touring to Bagnaia, Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH, unveiled the 2023 winner’s car, the all-new BMW M2. Traditionally, the upcoming season’s coveted prize was unveiled in the spring of the respective classification year.
