Alvaro Bautista’s future in World Superbike is still unclear. The Spanish driver had already thought about retiring in 2023, but in the end he renewed for another season with the Aruba team, after becoming world champion for the second consecutive year. However, after a third of this season, doubts have surfaced again.
The rider from Talavera de la Reina doesn’t feel as good as he would like on his Panigale V4R after four races. He is not finding the dominance that he had in the past with a different bike and that he also has more ballast than the others due to the minimum weight rule, although the Spaniard wants to minimize it.
After racing at Phillip Island, Barcelona and Assen, Bautista commented that he thought that after Misano he would be able to make a decision, because he wanted to wait to see how the Ducati performed on a track that is historically favorable to it, and after a few improvements obtained in some tests.
But the Spaniard once again lacked the feeling: after third place in Race 1 and Race 2 and the crash in the Superpole Race, he ended up losing first place in the World Championship to Toprak Razgatlioglu, and also second place to his teammate Nicolò Bulega.
So, after the Italian round, the number 1 offered a few more clues about what his future will be, and now leaves the door open to make a decision after the next round at Donington Park (12-14 July)… or even later, without a precise date, given that his priority is to improve his feeling with the Panigale.
“I said that this weekend was important, because we were coming from strange weekends like Australia, Barcelona, a complicated track, and Assen, with mixed conditions,” began Bautista. “This weekend was a more normal situation. It was important to find the feeling again and I didn’t manage to do that. As for my future, I said after Misano, but it could be tomorrow or in November. I haven’t spoken to anyone and there’s a month left before the next race. If it’s clear to me, I’ll decide. Otherwise, I’ll wait to understand why I don’t have the feeling I had last year, and this is the main problem, not my future.”
Speaking to the media, he commented: “At the moment I don’t have a deadline to decide. There are some questions in my mind, and the main one is why I don’t have the same confidence as last year and what I need to improve. As for my future, I have no idea and neither Ducati nor Aruba have asked me what I want to do. Maybe we’ll talk about it this month, before Donington. I’m more concerned with regaining confidence with the bike than with deciding my future.”
In reality, the general director of Ducati Corse, Gigi Dall’Igna, was also at Misano, who after resolving the Borgo Panigale conflict in MotoGP now has the task of closing the line-up in the World Superbike. Although it is clearer here: the brand will wait for Bautista’s decision, which is his first choice.
“We are renewing the contract with Aruba, we have almost closed the agreement. After that we will have to close the contracts with the riders. Alvaro is a two-time world champion, so he is an important rider for us and we would like to continue with him. Andrea Iannone was out of racing for four years. He came back a few months ago and it’s not easy. He showed his potential in some moments, but I trust him a little, because I know him and I know he has talent good. Our first choice will be Alvaro”, explained the Venetian coach, also mentioning Iannone.
#SBK #Bautista #hurry #decide #future #Ducati #wait