Bagnaia Wins the Ducati Race of Champions 2024 as Marquez and Bulega Collide
Francesco Bagnaia won the Ducati Race of Champions 2024 race at Misano from Andrea Iannone and Marc Marquez on the Ducati Panigale V4.
Ducati have united their riders from MotoGP, World Superbikes and British Superbikes for a special 10-lap race around the Misano Marco Simoncelli World Circuit. Iannone started from pole, with Francesco Bagnaia and Nicolo Bulega lining up alongside him.
Iannone would lose the lead at the start, with Bagnaia coming through on his fellow Italian, as Jorge Martin fell further through the field and outside the Top 10.
The VR46 Ducati duo of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio would pass Micheal Ruben Rinaldi on the third lap, the VR46 pair running by themselves for most of the race.
Alex Marquez and Alvaro Bautista would duel, with Marquez eventually diving late to the inside of the Spaniard at Turn 4, standing Bautista up on Lap 4 and frustrating his fellow Ducati rider.
In the closing stages of the race, Iannone and Bulega began catching Francesco Bagnaia, as further behind a battle ensued between Rinaldi, Franco Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini.
Jorge Martin would recover through the field to ninth place after his early issues aboard the Ducati, overtaking multiple WorldSBK riders.
Marc Marquez joined the fight for the podium on the final lap, fighting against the WorldSBK riders of Iannone and Bulega, with Nicolo Bulega crashing out at the final corner on the final lap after contact with Marc Marquez.
Francesco Bagnaia would come home to win the Ducati Race of Champions 2024 from Andrea Iannone and Marc Marquez, who had contact with Nicolo Bulega on the final corner and on the final lap.
Ducati Race of Champions 2024 Results
1st Francesco Bagnaia
2nd Andrea Iannone
3rd Marc Marquez
4th Marco Bezzecchi
5th Fabio Di Giannantonio
6th Michael Ruben Rinaldi
7th Franco Morbidelli
8th Enea Bastianini
9th Jorge Martin
10th Michele Pirro
11th Alex Marquez
12th Alvaro Bautista
13th Danilo Petrucci
14th Glen Irwin
DNF Nicolo Bulega
Featured Image: Ducati Corse Media
