Álvaro Bautista returned to Aruba.it Ducati in the World Superbike Championship in 2022 and has since had two dominant seasons. The rider is now at the end of his contract, but Ducati’s sports director, Mauro Grassilli, hopes to continue this partnership.
The official told GPOne.com: ‘At the moment, renewing Álvaro is our priority, because he is the most successful rider in SBK with our factory and he has brought Ducati back to victory. For us, he represents an icon in terms of personality, especially because of who he is‘.
Grassilli then explained that it is a decision that takes time, with age being one of the factors: ‘Bautista is 40 years old, there are several aspects to evaluate and as a result it will take time for him to make a decision. However, we want him to continue until 2025. As I said, it’s not something that can be resolved in a matter of days. It takes time and it may go into the summer, but there is no rush‘.
The first major contractual renewal process that the Italian took care of was Francesco Bagnaia’s in MotoGP, and he gave that example when talking about Bautista: ‘In some ways I remember Pecco’s renewal: we started talking to him in Sepang, then we signed a minute before Qatar‘.
