Italy's Francesco Bagnaia wins emotive maiden MotoGP world title for Ducati at Valencia

Riding a calculated race he claimed his maiden MotoGP title in front of 90,000 fans at Valencia in Spain.

“It was the worst race of the year for sure, maybe my life because I was fighting with my bike,” said the new world champion, who is also the first Italian to win the title since Valentino Rossi.

“At the start everything went well but after loosing my winglets I was struggling a lot [following contact with Fabio Quartararo].

"When I saw on my pit board that I was world champion I started to cry a lot because it is something incredible. To start with 91 points of gap and be world champion is incredible.

“To be world champion is absolutely the main thing for a rider and to be world champion with Ducati I think is something unbelievable.”

It was a last round shootout between reigning champion Fabio Quartararo on the Monster Energy Yamaha and Bagnaia on the Lenovo Ducati. Quartararo, from fourth on the grid and Bagnaia from eighth made great starts and were together at Turn 1.

The action was frantic between the pair as they battled for supremacy and on lap two they collided, breaking the winglets on Bagnaia’s Ducati.

The collision affected the Ducati’s handling and as the laps passed, Bagnaia slipped down the order to eventually cross the line a safe ninth and clinch his first MotoGP title. Quartararo, who had to win to have any chance of retaining his crown, finished fourth.

It was a remarkable season for Bagnaia and Ducati. They were 91 point adrift of Quartararo and Yamaha as they left Germany, but ten podiums and seven race wins – more than any other rider – saw the title go to the 25-year-old from Turin and completed a treble for the Bologna factory, who had already won the Team and Constructors titles.

Spaniard Alex Rins led from start to finish claiming victory for Ecstar Suzuki in their final race, as the Japanese manufacturer bowed out of MotoGP.

Brad Binder fought through from seventh on the opening lap to claim second, 0.396s behind the race winner, with Prima Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin completing the rostrum.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Augusto Fernandez was crowned Moto2 world champion after his main title rival Idemitsu Honda’s Ai Ogura crashed out while battling with Fernandez’s team mate Pedro Acosta for second.

Elf Marc VDS’s Tony Arbolino led until Acosta took over at the front with 14 laps remaining. Fernandez soon made it a Red Bull KTM Ajo one-two which went all the way to the chequered flag with Arbolino completing the podium eight seconds adrift of the first two.

Jake Dixon had a horror start from 15th on the grid. He dropped to 23rd on the opening lap before eventually crossing the line in seventh.

Newly crowned Moto3 World champion Izan Guevara claimed victory on home soil for the Valresa GasGas Aspar team after a race-long battle with Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Denez Öncü, whose team-mate Sergio Garcia completed the podium.

Scotland's John McPhee completed his final Moto3 Grand Prix in 11th.