Alvaro Bautista to stay on a Ducati? “The door is not closed”

Alvaro Bautista has hinted that he might not split from Ducati, after all.

The Aruba.it Ducati team have confirmed their wish to use a contractual clause to part ways with Bautista at the end of this season.

But his World Superbike Championship future could yet be rescued by the same manufacturer.

Bautista said about his uncertain 2026 plans: “The problem is, it’s August, so nobody works, and it’s hard to speak to people!

“Simone, my manager, is working. I hope to have something much earlier than September.

“I’m confident, and maybe in a few days or not too long, we’ll have something.

“We signed a contract for ’25 and ’26, with the possibility to not continue from both sides. Ducati decided we couldn’t keep the same conditions for these two years.

“They never said to me that they don’t want me, and, at the moment, Ducati said, ‘Wait, because we don’t have a decision about the riders yet’.

“The door is not closed.

“It’s true that I accepted conditions being a two-time World Champion that were maybe too low, but I accepted because I wanted to race.”

Alvaro Bautista had mixed fortune at Hungarian WorldSBK

Nicolo Bulega has signed a new deal to stay with Aruba.it Ducati next year.

However, other Ducatis might become available.

Danilo Petrucci, of Barni Ducati, is being linked with a switch to BMW.

Andrea Iannone, of Go Eleven Ducati, is also out of contract at the end of this year and has even mentioned retiring.

Bautista is now aged 40, and won the 2022 and 2023 WorldSBK titles.

He previously rode in MotoGP. For next year, a test rider for a MotoGP manufacturer is reportedly an option.

Bautista delivered a reminder of his qualities with a podium finish in Race 1 at the Hungarian WorldSBK.

But he crashed out of Race 2 on Sunday, then said: “I’m okay. It’s a big shame because we did well in the Superpole Race in conditions that weren’t easy.

“In Race 2, I had a good start, but I felt like a passenger in the early laps, so all I could do was defend my position.

“Sam and Nicolo passed me and made some mistakes, so I could recover the gap. Before the crash, a few corners before, I started to ride the bike a bit better, but then I crashed.

“It seems like, when we’re closing the gap to third in the Championship, we have some accident or incident that increases the gap!”