Alvaro Bautista has never forgotten MotoGP. After the Superbike title, he asked Gigi Dall'Igna to do a test on the Ducati Desmosedici GP.
About Luigi Ciamburro de Motoracing
A 38 years old, the star of Ducati, Álvaro Bautista, is the oldest Superbike rider, but he is experiencing his second world spring. After the MotoGP title with Pecco Bagnaia, which filled a gap of 15 years for the Emilian manufacturer, the Spanish rider catches up and fills the void in the competition reserved for motorcycles from the series which existed since 2011, the year in which Carlos Checa gave the last SBK title. After the 2006 world title acquired in the 125 class, this is his second crown.
Alvaro Bautista extended his contract with the official team Aruba.it Ducati in June until the end of the 2023 season. A confidence that he will hope to renew again in order to remain at the top level at the threshold of forty. The triumph in the Superbike World Championship is a great personal satisfaction, but also a moral slap for those who did not believe in his return to the saddle of the Panigale V4R after his two disappointing years with Honda. For many, he was in the twilight of his career and he could hardly have done better than Scott Redding.
Alvaro Bautista: “ I never had a competitive bike in MotoGP, I don't know if I would have won, but it would have been nice to have this opportunity«
Looking back, there remains a certain bitterness at not having received what he deserved in the premier category. First with Suzuki, then with the satellite team Honda, with Aprilia and finally with the Ducati Aspar, he never had a truly competitive bike to show his full value. “ I think in MotoGP I was missing something to show my potential. But I can't consider myself unlucky... because I'm a pilot and living this life was a dream for me, I had great successes and bad times, but that's part of life. Maybe I missed the 250 title and then a competitive MotoGP bike. I don't know if I would have won, but it would have been nice to have the opportunity ».
In 2016 the results began to improve on the Noale prototype, the top 5 was approaching, but he was expelled… “ They thought they had a great bike and the problem was the riders. Some time later, technical director Romano Albesiano told me that they had made a mistake, they would have wanted me to come back for 2018, but I had already given my word to Aspar ". After two years with the Desmosedici he definitively closes the MotoGP chapter, Álvaro Bautista made the jump to Superbike and at the first attempt it looked like he could reach the World Championship.
With ten consecutive victories, Jonathan Rhea was on the ropes, but the unthinkable happened in the second part of the championship… “ The truth is that at the beginning I didn't know what I was doing, I was going very quickly without understanding why », he admits to 'La Gazzetta dello Sport'. “ Then, the lack of experience, some bad technical choices, some of my mistakes meant that we lost the feeling. At one point, the idea that if I won the title I would return to MotoGP also betrayed me ". The MotoGP dream remains alive and, after winning the SBK title, he considers it legitimate to be able to carry out a test on the Ducati Desmosedici. “ It seems to me to be a very fun bike. It would be a nice gift from Dall'Igna ". The letter to Santa has been sent.
