WorldSBK: Alvaro Bautista signs a one-year extension with Ducati

Alvaro Bautista has extended his contract with Ducati for the 2024 WorldSBK season.

Reigning WorldSBK Champion, Alvaro Bautista has announced that he will extend his contract with Ducati for another season. The announcement comes after a press conference on Thursday after the Spaniard announced his decision.

The decision came after a two-week break from Assen when the 38-year-old was undecided about his future in the sport. However, with so much success together, the Aruba.it Ducati squad will continue to work with Bautista.

Debuting in the class in 2019, Bautista made an instant impact on the sport, dominating multiple races throughout the first half of the season. However, Bautista had multiple crashes throughout his rookie year in the class, allowing Rea to win the title.

At the end of 2019, Bautista made a shock decision with a move to the factory HRC Honda team. He would ride the brand new CBR1000RR-R with mixed success in his two seasons with the team.

He later returned to the Ducati team, where in 2022 he would complete his dream of becoming the WorldSBK Champion. So far in 2023, Bautista aims to repeat this success, winning all three races at Assen. 

Bautista said: “After 21 years spent in the elite of world motorcycling, in the paddocks of MotoGP and WorldSBK, I now feel in excellent shape, both physically and mentally. I can say that I am in the best moment of my career: I have a lot of fun riding the bike and I have the pleasure of working with a team that I consider a second family. 

“By the way, on a personal level, my family is getting bigger, and the babies are growing up and that is why the decision to race in 2024 was a choice I wanted to make together with them. We decided to continue and I’m very happy to stay with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team with whom I’ve always had a wonderful relationship.

“I am happy that they still want me, even though I am a little old. One more year together, with the hope of keeping the fantastic feeling with the bike, the certainty of an extraordinary working relationship, and, of course, the goal of aiming at great results.”

Image credit: worldsbk.com