SBK | Foti: “Ducati has no plan B, the goal is to continue with Bautista”

Alvaro Bautista’s renewal with Ducati in the Superbike World Championship has been the talk of the town for several weeks now. The Spaniard’s signature to extend his adventure with the Bologna brand, which led him to the conquest of two consecutive world championship crowns, seemed to be a done deal, but the announcement is slow in coming.

There is no doubt that the rider from Talavera de la Reina is experiencing his most difficult moment since he returned to wear the colors of the Reds, and the standings say it quite clearly: his recent crashes and the 13 consecutive wins of Toprak Razgatlioglu’s BMW have made him fall to third place, even behind his teammate, rookie Nicolò Bulega. But it is the more than 140 points of delay compared to the Turk that make it difficult, if not impossible, for him to confirm his position on the throne of the production-derived series.

This does not mean, however, that his desire to continue racing has disappeared. And this seems to be quite clear to the men at Ducati, who are not even working on a possible alternative in case the 39-year-old decides to hang up his helmet, as revealed to the official website of the World Superbike Championship by the team principal of Aruba Racing, Serafino Foti.

“We didn’t talk during the Portimao weekend because he prefers not to talk about it during the Round,” Foti began. “We will continue to work on it and even if it’s not done yet, we are close to trying to move forward together. Soon I will be able to say if we are at 80% or 90% or 0% but I am really confident. We don’t have a plan B because our goal is to move forward with him.”

The Spaniard’s moment of difficulty was triggered by the change in regulations that from this year require him to carry ballast, because the minimum weight is calculated taking into account both the bike and the rider. Something for which a solution has not yet been found that would allow him to ride the Panigale V4 at the same level as last year, even if the men in Red are slowly taking the right path.

“In this respect we had some problems with Alvaro this year. It was difficult to find the best set-up, but since Most we have found the best compromise. We have shifted the weight in some areas and our engineers at home have done a good job. In Most and Portimao he was competitive. He crashed but he was there and this is the most important thing for the future,” explained Foti.

“Toprak is really strong as shown by the 13 wins in a row, but we will never give up, as always, and of course we will continue to work for the future. Next year we will have the same bike but it is also important to continue to improve it. This is a really difficult year, but in every race and every time we will continue to give it our all.”

“The balance of the bike is very sensitive to weight for Alvaro. That’s the problem. It’s not easy because stationary weight is one thing but dynamic weight is a completely different story, so at the moment that’s the main problem. Until we go to the tracks we won’t know if there will be a particularly difficult one for us: we’ll find out there. In Most and Portimao he had the same feeling though”, he concluded.