World Ducati Week Smashes Attendance Record

World Ducati Week 2024 is being heralded as a record-breaking event, after more than 94,000 attended the event in person, with guests travelling from a stated 86 different nations.

Ducati also states that a whopping 17 million impressions on social media were related to the event, and while many were no doubt aimed at the famous (it’s not a proper race, honest) Race of Champions, it was likely not Francesco Bagnaia taking the win that got all the clicks, likes and shares. While battling it out for the final podium position, Marc Marquez proved that he takes so-called ‘exhibition’ races just as seriously as MotoGP, after he punted off Nicolò Bulega in front of swathes of home fans and his new employers for next season - awkward!

The race did highlight one thing, aside from Marquez’ unquenchable thirst for glory, the new 2024 Panigale V4 is just as fast as you’d expect from the Borgo Panigale manufacturer. The bikes were claimed to be stock yet despite this the eventual winner, Bagnaia, posted a fastest qualifying lap time of 1m35.4, just 3.2 seconds off the MotoGP lap record at the same venue.

Speaking after the event, Claudio Domenicali, Ducati CEO, said: 

"World Ducati Week is the event that better than anything else embodies our brand's mission to offer memorable experiences to our enthusiasts, created around special bikes, which are a magical combination of technology and beauty in pure Italian sporting style. The numbers of this edition are extraordinary and are proof that the love for Ducati in the world has never been so strong. I want to thank every single participant, but also all the staff composed mostly of Ducati employees who, as usual, worked hard to make this incredible experience possible. Thanks also to all of Ducati Corse and in particular to the riders, the heroes of WDW, who made themselves available to the fans and gave us a show that is unique in the world like the Lenovo Race of Champions. The performance achieved by the new Panigale V4 is truly incredible: the fastest lap in qualifying was just 3.2 seconds away from the MotoGP race track record, which belongs to Francesco Bagnaia with 1m31.8s. Equally incredible is the determination with which Pecco once again proved to be the best, in a race where everyone had exactly the same bike.”