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Enea Bastianini and the Ducati Lenovo Team come out victorious at Misano, scoring win number 100 in MotoGP for Ducati, which secured a fifth consecutive manufacturer’s title.

Defending world champion Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of the encounter.

In all, five Ducati machines were in the race top five: Jorge Martín was second with the Desmosedici GP of Pramac Racing Team, followed by Marc Márquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP), Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Racing Team) and by his team-mate Franco Morbidelli.

The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was one of contrasting emotions for the Ducati Lenovo Team: on one hand, there is success with Bastianini, who scored and exciting last-lap win, while on the flip side Bagnaia’s performance came to an early end as he crashed out of third place with seven laps remaining.

Bastianini had a good start from the front row of the grid as he kept himself in third despite a coming together with South African Brad Binder.

Bastianini showed an excellent pace already in the early stages as he overtook his team-mate during lap five with the goal of not losing touch with the then-leader Martín.

Enea did a good job in bridging the small gap to his rival and, after being on his tail for several laps, the winning move came on the final lap at turn four, with Bastianini then making his way to race victory in front of his home crowd.

Bagnaia’s start from pole position was a good one as he moved into the lead in the direction change following turn one. The reigning world champion, despite his solid pace, showed some signs of struggle with the rear-end of his bike, and was eventually overtaken first by Martín on lap four and then by his team-mate in the following one.

After losing ground from his opponents, Pecco tried to up his game as he twice set the fastest lap of the race, but a crash with seven laps left deprived him of a podium that appeared within reach.

As the 14th Grand Prix of the season drew to a close, Bagnaia sits second in the championship standings with a 24-point gap from Martín. Bastianini is third, 59 points in arrears. Ducati reached 500 points and sealed the manufacturers’ title, while the Ducati Lenovo Team still leading the team standings (599 points).

“This victory is a great achievement, because we built up to a crescendo this weekend,” said Bastianin.

“Yesterday we were missing something to battle for the win, but we worked until late in order to put all the pieces together and to find a solution ahead of today’s race, and it worked.

“Jorge (Martín) was extremely fast throughout the race and there was a moment in which I wasn’t sure if I could have stayed with him, as I started experiencing a bit of vibration at the rear-end.

“As the laps went by, however, I tried to understand how to minimise the issue. In the final laps, something extra obviously comes out that enables you to battle for the win. In the end, I made my move: when I dove in, Jorge tried to close the door and that forced me to lean a bit, which led to the front-end locking. I tried to rely on the rear as much as I could, while making sure I could make the turn, and it worked.”

Photo courtesy Ducati

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MotoGP World Championship standings after round 14: