The 2022 MotoGP season was firmly one of two halves that culminated in one of the greatest fightbacks in motorsport history, as well as one of the bitterest losses having overcome such a difficult predicament.
Motorsport Week therefore decided to look back and pick out who it felt were the ten best riders of the year, with some not ending up where you’d might expect…
10: Marco Bezzecchi: The VR46 Ducati rider had an impactful maiden MotoGP campaign in more ways than one – the Italian collecting the second highest amount of crashes over the year across all classes with 23 behind only RNF Yamaha’s Darryn Binder – though the blinding speed he showed bearing in mind his minimal experience means he secures the final spot within the top ten.
A runners up finish following a stunning performance in the Dutch TT was the obvious highlight, though a run to second on the grid at home in Italy at Mugello was also impressive – as was his eventual 87 point winning margin in the rookies championship over fellow Ducati man Fabio Di Gianantonio.
9: Miguel Oliveira: The Portuguese pilot’s final year within the KTM was a mixed one, with a pair of superb wins in wet conditions being flanked by a fairly significant drubbing across the season by team-mate Brad Binder, who generally managed to make more progress from the poor qualifying results that became normality as a result of the RC16’s inability to work its tyre hard enough over a single lap.
A trio of fifth-place runs were his best in dry conditions all year, leading to a tenth position in the rider’s standings, a considerable 39 points and four positions lower than his less experienced team-mate – having also lost out to him by a formidable ratio of 16-4 in race results.
8: Jack Miller: A fairly low ranking for the loveable Aussie largely reflects his tendency to make key mistakes under pressure – examples being while leading the San Marino Grand Prix as well as crashing from two of the final three encounters while battling for third in the championship.
He also ended up a stiff 76 markers adrift of team-mate and eventual champion Francesco Bagnaia despite the Italians many highly-publicised errors, as well as 30 points down on Gresini Ducati man Enea Bastianini who ended up stealing his ride for 2023.
Miller’s ride to victory in Japan was sublime however, showing that when he gets his ducks in a row, he can be truly unbeatable.
7: Marc Marquez: It may seem controversial to place a rider who only competed in 12 of the 20 races ahead of some of the still-strong full-timers, but it’s impossible to ignore the six-time premier class world champion’s heroics with a heinous Honda – especially considering his recent fitness troubles.
His successful arm operation allowed him to return to his best in the final part of the year – though consistent top six runs in the opening contests when his right humerus was rotated 30 degrees further than it should have been was no mean feat – resulting in a stunning run to second at Phillip Island behind Alex Rins.
He also scored over double the points of next-best Honda man Pol Espargaro despite missing nearly half the 2022 campaign, showing he still has the potential for further titles should Honda provide him the machinery that compliments his talent.
6: Alex Rins: Suzuki’s shock announcement that it would withdraw from MotoGP at the end of 2022 prior to the Spanish GP completely wiped out its early momentum that saw Rins establish himself as an early title contender with four top five runs in the opening five races, with five non-scores directly following the manufacturer’s notice.
The Spaniard continued to dig in and went on a strong run of points finishes across the second half of the year, culminating in a pair of stunning wins at Phillip Island and the Circuit Ricardo Tormo respectively to end the year seventh overall – completely decimating 2020 MotoGP world champion and team-mate Joan Mir in the process.
5: Enea Bastianini: The 2020 Moto2 world champion enjoyed a breakout sophomore season in the premier class with the Gresini Ducati squad, the year beginning with a bang as a result of a shock win in the opening event of the year in Qatar before a further three followed en-route to third in the rider’s standings.
His stunning campaign also resulted in capturing the second factory Ducati berth alongside champion Bagnaia next year, though he will need to find greater consistency if he is to move further up the ranking next year having suffered his fair share of race-ending mistakes and anonymous outings alongside his truly stunning performances.
4: Aleix Espargaro: Fourth in the overall standings was a crushing blow for the man who enjoyed by far his most competitive season in MotoGP to date with a resurgent Aprilia outfit, the Spaniard scoring an emotional maiden win from pole position in Argentina as well as a further five rostrums.
He arguably should have scored third overall ahead of Bastianini but was denied critical points through problems not of his own making on several occasions, with a technical problem that ruled him out of the final race of the year while leading the Gresini ace in the standings proving the death knell for his championship podium hopes.
3: Brad Binder: The South African put in a formidable season-long performance to end up just a solitary point down from a top-five championship finish to Miller despite having to deal with an off-kilter KTM that struggled to make its tyres work correctly in qualifying, thus normally leaving him outside the top ten for the race.
Sunday heroics became the name of the game for Binder as he more often than not fought back well into the top ten despite usually failing to even breach the top 12 on Saturday, while runners-up finishes in the Qatar, Japanese and Valencia GP’s – the latter nearly seeing him fight past winner Rins – were simply breathtaking, earning him the final step of the podium in this year’s rider rankings.
2: Francesco Bagnaia: Shock horror the newly-crowned world champion has failed to capture the point on this list, but let me explain.
The Italian entered 2022 as the clear favourite following a blistering end to the ’21 campaign, though he failed to deliver with a lack of outright speed – even compared to several of his Ducati brethren such as Bastianini, Miller and Zarco – and results in the opening races, while key mistakes meant a 91-point lead ballooned in favour of reigning champion Fabio Quartararo.
Bagnaia put on a comeback for the ages though across the second half of the year, grabbing a total of five wins and eight rostrums finishes to turn a 91 point deficit into a 17-point title victory in the final reckoning – Ducati’s first riders crown since Casey Stoner’s 2007 triumph.
He misses out to Quartararo in this list though as a result of his relatively-small points gap bearing in mind the hardware advantage he enjoyed over the Yamaha man as well as his weak beginning to the year, as well as the concerning frequency of unforced errors that he was lucky his speed allowed him to recover from.
1: Fabio Quartararo: The 2021 MotoGP world champion did everything in his power to make up for the lack of grunt afforded to him by him M1, his job of a second title made all the harder by Ducati’s squadron of eight Desmosedici’s in the field.
The boundless heroics of Quartararo were illustrated by his simply ridiculous 206 point gap in the rider’s standings to Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli – who only scored two top tens all year on the very same bike – while he lacked only 17 points in the end to Bagnaia on the clearly-superior Desmosedici.
Yes there were errors such as his rash move on Espargaro at Assen – a crash that ultimately signified the shift in power as regards to the championship – as well as at Phillip Island where he let his frustration get the better of him, though given his situation, this can be understood.
Yamaha are hoping to bring more power to its M1 for 2023, and should the manufacturer reach its targets, it’s hard to see past Quartararo exacting his revenge next term.
