Fogarty: Bautista “becoming unbeatable, I’d like to see Bassani on factory bike”

Carl Fogarty believes Axel Bassani should get the opportunity to line-up alongside WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista, thus replacing Michael Ruben Rinaldi at the Aruba.it Ducati team in 2024.

Robert Jones

29 Jun 2023

Axel Bassani, Ducati WorldSBK Catalunya 2023

The former four-time WorldSBK champion with Ducati says Bautista’s current level of dominance is reminding him of the 1994 and 1995 seasons when he won the title.

Bautista has won 14 out of 15 races so far in 2023, which is a streak that’s considerably more dominant than at any stage of his title win last season.

That’s not to say 2022 wasn’t a convincing season for Bautista, as it was, but the former MotoGP rider is putting together arguably the greatest individual year that any rider has ever managed before.

"It’s a pretty dominant season for Ducati and Alvaro! They’re both as one, both incredible!" Fogarty told WorldSBK.com. "He’s becoming unbeatable and even for the other Ducati riders, he’s becoming unbeatable.

"It kind of reminds me of my 1994 and 1995 season, my first years on the Ducati 916.

"He’s ironed out all of the little teething problems that maybe they had last year with his first year back on Ducati and he’s come out the blocks fighting like me in 1995.

"He’s incredibly dominant with the package he’s got and the others are doing a bit of whinging and moaning about it.

"It’s for the others to do their homework, get better bikes or riders and improve their packages a bit."

The only race Bautista didn’t win was the Superpole Race at Mandalika, as a crash when battling Jonathan Rea took him out of contention.

In terms of Bautista’s future teammate, much is being said about who could line-up alongside him in 2024.

Rinaldi has been strongest of the other Ducati riders when on form, however, Bassani has been the rider with better consistency.

When asked who he believes should partner Bautista, Fogarty leaned in the direction of Bassani: "I’d like to see Bassani; he was unlucky not to get it this year and his results have been better.

"Michael’s had quite a few chances now and he’s struggling to get near Alvaro so, with Ducati being the top team, you have to be consistently in the top three, even back in my day.

"In 1999, Troy Corser finished joint-second in the championship behind me and he was out of a ride with Ducati as they brought in Ben Bostrom.

"Bassani is still a bit consistent, like them all really, but he deserves a crack at it."