Francesco Bagnaia was once again the winner when he appeared in the 2024 Race of Champions .

Race of Champions is an exhibition race held by Ducati on the sidelines of the World Ducati Week event.

Taking place at the Misano Circuit, Rimini, Italy, Saturday (27/7/2024), 15 Ducati racers from the MotoGP and Superbike events competed for speed.

This year’s race is even more exciting with the presence of big names.

One who has received the biggest spotlight is Marc Marquez who this season joined the Ducati squad via the satellite team, Gresini Racing.

This time, there is no difference in technical support as happened in MotoGP .

All riders are equipped with the latest model of the Ducati Panigale V4, a mass-production motorcycle that Ducati claims inherits the technology developed in MotoGP .

Unfortunately, there is not much competition on offer this time, including between Bagnaia and Marquez who will be teammates next season.

Bagnaia again appeared dominant in this 10-lap race by leading from the first lap.

Starting from second position, Nuvola Rossa, aka the Red Cloud, had already overtaken pole sitter , Andrea Iannone, during the first acceleration contest.

Meanwhile, Marquez had difficulty breaking through from the middle position.

Marquez’s starting position was slightly behind, precisely in fifth position. Able to move up to fourth position from the start, Marquez was far behind the top three group.

Meanwhile, the riders behind Bagnaia are Iannone and Nicolo Bulega. Both are former grand prix racers who are now competing in WorldSBK with Ducati Panigale.

There was no significant resistance from Iannone and Bulega who even struggled to keep up with Bagnaia’s pace .

Bagnaia took another win by 1.4 seconds from runner-up Iannone. He also finished first in the previous edition of the Race of Champions in 2022.

“I enjoyed the race,” said Bagnaia after the race, as reported by GPOne.com.

“I tried to push to stay out of trouble but Andrea was behind me until the end.”

“One thing that was really nice was the cheering, I could hear it with my ear plugs.”

Meanwhile, Marquez took third place in the final seconds.

The Ant from Cervera threatened on the final lap after being held back for a long time with a gap of 1 second from Bulega who remained in third position.

The battle for the final podium spot was heating up. The incident happened at the last corner. Bulega and Marquez were seen touching.

Valentino Rossi’s former student could not believe it when he fell in the final seconds of the race.

Marquez himself admitted that he did not know.

“I think we put on a good show for the fans, the important thing is we had fun,” said the eight-time world champion.

“It’s a shame Bulega crashed, I don’t know if we touched, but we will go to the podium together.”

Bulega had to go to the medical room to have his shoulder checked. Fortunately, no fractures were found in the initial examination.

RACE OF CHAMPIONS 2024 RESULTS

1. Francesco Bagnaia ( Ducati Lenovo/ MotoGP )
2. Andrea Iannone (Team Go Eleven/WorldSBK)
3. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing/ MotoGP )

4. Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46/ MotoGP )
5. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46/ MotoGP )
6. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Motocorsa Racing/WorldSBK)
7. Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac/ MotoGP )
8. Enea Bastianini ( Ducati Lenovo/ MotoGP )
9. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac/ MotoGP )
10. Michele Pirro ( Ducati Lenovo/ Ducati Test Team)

11. Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing/MotoGP)
12. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati/WorldSBK)
13. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Sparks/WorldSBK)
14. Glenn Irwin (Paul Bird Motorsport/British Superbike)

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati /WorldSBK) Failed to Finish