Ducati pay tribute to “incredible” Pecco Bagnaia at Race of Champions
Ducati deliver verdict on Lenovo R꧟ace of Champions
Ducati have credited their star man Francesco Bagnaia after🔯 he won the Lenovo Race of☂ Champions.
Bagnaia overtook polesitter Andrea Iannone on the first lap then, after a spirited scr♒ap, held off his rival to win the 10-lap race at Misano on Saturday.
The event at World Ducati Week was notable fo💯r Nicolo Bulega crashing out at the last corner in an incident with Marc Marquez who, as a result, completed the podium.
Ducati confir𓃲med Marquez and Bulega “made contac𒈔t”.
But the Lenovo Race of Champions was 🅠ultimatelꦚy won by the Italian manufacturer’s poster boy.
Claudio𒊎 Domenicali, the Ducati CEO, said: "The Lenovo Race of Champions is an incredible spectacle for all motorcycling fans.
“Personally, I had a lot of fun during the race, and seeing the red crowd of World Ducati Week on the grandstands of the Misano Circui♚t was a great emotion.
“Congratulations to Pecco, who once again showe💦d the world his incredible talent by winning a world-class race, and congratulations also to Andrea and Marc, who finished on the podium𓂃.
“We would have also liked to have Nicolo on the podium during t🔯he celebratory moment, but it was rightly given priority for medical checks afte📖r the crash.
“The Lenovo Race of Champions and this WDW2024 was the perfect setting to demonstrate the value of the new Panigale V4, and t🐽he improvement in performance compared to the 2022 race makes us proud of the work done on this motorcycle".
Ba൩gna𝓀ia added: “First of all, I want to say that it was fantastic seeing so many people on the grandstands.
“I was꧟ even able to hear 𒐪people cheering, although I had the helmet on while racing; it was really incredible.
“The race was great; I enjoyed it a lot. I couldn’t understand what the gap was, so I just pushed a l꧅ot and had a lot of fun.
“I am very happy to have tried the new Panigale V4 here in Misano, and I෴ really𝔍 look forward to training on it from now on.”
The showpiece race brought together �ꦛ�Ducati’s top 15 riders from MotoGP, World Superbikes and British Superbikes.
They w♓ere riding the new Panigale V4, a bike unveiled by Ducati earlier in the week.
MotoGP champion Bagnaia s꧅howed his authority 🧔by winning the Race of Champions.
Next weekend, he will return to defending his title at the British MotoGP at Silverstone. He currently❀ has a 10-point lead over Jorge Martin.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports fꦏor a decade covering everything f🤪rom American sports, to football, to F1.
