Ducatisti are in for a treat at this year's World Ducati Weekend -- due to be staged at San Marino's Misano circuit over June 21-24 -- when the Italian marque's best factory racers from both MotoGP and the Superbike World Championship go head to head in quarter-mile drag-strip challenge on a brace of specially-prepared Ducati Diavel Carbons.
A headline act amid a packed schedule of entertainment over the annual four-day Ducati festival, the Diavel Carbon shootout will emulate a similar event (pictured) held at WDW2010, in which riders Troy Bayliss, Casey Stoner, Nicky Hayden, Carlos Checa and Noriyuki Haga locked horns aboard Ducati Streetfighters.
Egos and the pride of the world's top two motorcycle road racing codes will be on the line on the evening of Saturday, June 23, as legend and retired racer Troy Bayliss joins current Ducati racing guns Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Carlos Checa, Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli, among others, in a no-holds-barred sprint down the strip before an adoring crowd of Ducati faithful.
The event will also showcase the capabilities of Ducati's Diavel Carbon, whose sinister styling is backed up by a heap of real-world performance. It's said to be good for 0-100km/h in just 2.6sec -- a claim Ducati's top racers will be keen to put to the test on the night.
Advanced tickets to World Ducati Weekend 2012 are available online at wdw.ducati.com, but they can also be purchased from the Misano circuit from June 18.