Nicolo Bulega crashes out as Marc Marquez overtakes in Ducati Race of Champions
Francesco Bagnaia won the showpiece event as Marc Marquez claimed a last-gasp podium
Marc Marquez was never likely to have a quiet first World Ducati Week.
He claimed a podium finish in the Lenovo Race of Champions on Saturday at the last corner.
Nicolo Bulega was set to cross the line in third-place but dramatically crashed out of the race in the final moments.
As Bulega sat in the gravel with his arms out gesturing, Marquez went through to grab his third-place.
“Too bad Bulega fell, I don’t know if we touched,” Marquez said.
“But we will go on the podium together.
“I think we put on a good show for the fans. The important thing is that we had fun.”
A penny for the thoughts of Ducati management who might have hoped that Saturday’s festivities went by without any riders ending up on the floor.
Instead, although there was no indication of foul play, Bulega skidded out of contention in the incident involving Marquez.
This year’s edition of the annual World Ducati Week is Marquez’s first, since he quit Honda last year. It arrives amid the backdrop of his selection as next year’s factory MotoGP rider, alongside Francesco Bagnaia.
The relationship between Bagnaia and Marquez has already come under the microscope.
The showpiece event of World Ducati Week at the Misano circuit was Saturday’s race.
It brought together Ducati riders from MotoGP, World Superbikes and British Superbikes.
They were riding Panigale V4s, the new bike that was unveiled earlier this week.
The Lenovo Race of Champions was won by Francesco Bagnaia, who overtook polesitter Andrea Iannone on the first lap.
Iannone forced Bagnaia to defend for much of the 10-lap race until the final stretch, when the MotoGP champion was able to pull away.
Jorge Martin, meanwhile, suffered a bad start and fell to the back of the field before recovering a P9 finish.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
