Italian President hosts MotoGP champions Bagnaia, Ducati

Bagnaia claimed Ducati’s first MotoGP title since Casey Stoner in 2007 at the Valencia season finale earlier this month, becoming the first Italian to win the premier-class crown on an Italian bike since Giacomo Agostini in 1972.

Bagnaia was accompanied by the likes of Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali, Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall'Igna and Ducati Corse Sporting Director Paolo Ciabatti for the appointment with Mattarella at the Quirinale, one of the President's official residences.

“I would like to thank the President of the Republic for welcoming us to the Quirinale, for us it is a real honour,” Bagnaia said.

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“This year we managed to achieve an extraordinary result, of which we are very proud: we won the MotoGP World Championship, an Italian rider on an Italian motorcycle, 50 years after Giacomo Agostini's last victory in the world championship on an MV Agusta.

“This result is the fruit of many years of hard work, both by me and by the whole team. Together we have managed to improve our bike to make it the benchmark in the championship, and we must be proud of this.

“After crossing the finish line in Valencia two weeks ago, I completed the last few metres proudly carrying our flag, aware of having demonstrated to the whole world that the talent and ingenuity of us Italians are second to none.”

Bagnaia is the first Italian rider to win the MotoGP title since mentor Valentino Rossi in 2009.

Domenicali said: "It is a real honour today to be received at the Quirinale by the President of the Republic, whom I would like to thank sincerely for the invitation. Ducati is a global company with firm roots in our country, precisely in the Motor Valley of Emilia-Romagna, where our bikes are conceived, designed and developed.

"As proof of the level achieved by national academic institutions and the technological expertise of our country, the majority of Ducati engineers come from Italian universities. We are proud ambassadors of Made in Italy and we honour this responsibility every day by affixing a small tricolour to every Ducati motorcycle sold worldwide. Being here today makes us realise how much this success belongs not only to Ducati but to all of Italy.

"Together with Francesco Bagnaia we have achieved much more than a victory, we have written a page of motorsport history and demonstrated how Italian skills and technology are a world excellence. Thanks to the FMI and CONI for organising this truly exciting day."

Ducati also won the MotoGP teams' and constructors' titles this season, as well as the World Superbike championship with Alvaro Bautista.