Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) has provided a shock to the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship silly season after confirming that the option in his latest contract, which required both the #19 and the team to take up, will not be triggered by Ducati. It seems like the two-time Champion’s relationship with the Italian manufacturer will conclude at the end of the 2025 campaign, with Bautista declaring: “I’m free for next year.”
Bautista’s first foray into WorldSBK came in 2019 with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad and he made an instant impression on the Championship, winning his first 11 races and looking like he’ll put up a title charge. However, he ultimately fell short after a series of crashes allowed then Kawasaki rider Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) to take control of the title race and win his fifth in a row.
After 2019, Bautista moved to Honda for two seasons, although it was a considerably less successful spell for the #19. He scored three podiums across the 2020 and 2021 campaigns, with his two years with the Japanese brand marred by several crashes. At the end of 2021, he returned back to the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad and put right the wrongs he would’ve felt of 2019, taking the first of two titles.
He backed up his 2022 success with the 2023 title despite being taken all the way to the season finale by Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), who was with Yamaha at the time, but he has struggled to replicate that form since. In 2024, the 40-year-old secured only four wins – down from 27 in 2023 – and so far in 2025, he has yet to record a victory. His win drought is the longest while on Ducati machinery, at 21 races.
Speaking at Ducati’s home round, Bautista provided an update on his future and confirmed Ducati wouldn’t take up their side of the option. He stated: “As I said at the last round, my intention is to keep racing because I feel good. I think physically and mentally, I feel ready, I feel strong enough to fight for good results. For sure, I had signed with Ducati for ’25 and ’26, but with the possibility of breaking the contract from my side and also from their side. I communicated to the team that, from my side, I was happy and wanted to continue because I felt that, even with the rules, we’re working and arriving at a good performance. Then, Ducati said from their side, they don’t want to accept the conditions we signed so they broke the agreement; that’s all I can say because if you want to know more about this, you have to ask Ducati.
“I’m not really worried because I think I feel good and competitive on the bike and still my target is to keep racing. The conditions that me and Ducati had signed is no more. I’m free for next year. At the moment, I’m a Ducati rider and want to do the best; to have a good weekend here at our home race and that’s all I can say.”
