Alvaro Bautista and Ducati have reached an agreement to renew his contract which expired at the end of this season for another year, so whatever happens this year – and the Spaniard is the clear favorite for the title fight – Bautista will extend the his professional career at least up to almost 40 years.
Although the Talavera rider’s age and attachment to his family might suggest that he was considering ending his career at the end of the current season, Ducati managed to convince him to extend it.
The arguments of the Borgo Panigale manufacturer are purely sporting: the Panigale V4 R is a competitive bike and allows Bautista to fight for the championship, as demonstrated in the first weekends of the season, in which he won eight races and gained a certain margin in classification. A situation that, at the moment, no other rider can offer Ducati, for which Alvaro is a guarantee of success, as demonstrated last year with the Spanish rider’s crown.
The agreement between the two parties was confirmed at the last round in Assen, but Bautista wanted to wait for his home race in Barcelona this weekend to make it public, giving the announcement the level it deserves, given that it could be the last renewal in the long career of Talavera.
Bautista made his debut in the 125cc World Championship in 2002 in three races as a wild card, after which he competed for 16 seasons in the MotoGP paddock, until 2018, winning the World Championship in the minor class in the memorable 2006 season.
After nine seasons in the premier class (three podiums), Bautista moved up to World SBK in 2019 with Ducati, taking 16 victories in his first year, but narrowly missing out on the championship. After two seasons with Honda, he reconnected with the Borgo Panigale manufacturer in 2022 to win the world championship, which he defends this season with the number 1 on the fairing of his factory Ducati Panigale. Saddle that he will keep for another season.
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