High praise from Álvaro Bautista (41): Barni Ducati is just like a factory team

At 41, Álvaro Bautista is the oldest rider in the 2026 Superbike World Championship, and it is doubtful whether the 63-time race winner will be on the starting grid next year. Not because of his age, but because the regulations and the development of the motorbikes are not favourable for a rider with his physical attributes.

As a result, the Spaniard’s results have gone from strength to strength since 2024, which in turn led to Bautista losing his place in the Aruba.it Ducati works team and having to move to the Barni Racing customer team for 2026. It wasn’t a step down in quality, the family man emphasised. “Not at all – as far as events, interviews or work off the track are concerned, perhaps a little. But from a technical point of view, I don’t think the Barni team is in any way inferior to a factory team,” said Bautista in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com reporter Manuel Pecino.

For team boss Marco Barnabo, the words of the two-time Superbike World Champion are like a badge of honour, even if the partnership with the Spaniard hasn’t been particularly successful. With four rounds to go before the end of the season, Bautista sits ninth in the overall standings with just one podium finish.

But wouldn’t the current problems be better resolved in a factory team? “I don’t know. But I can tell you that we didn’t solve the problem either when the minimum weight regulation was introduced,” Bautista added. “Back then, it was also the same bike with the extra weight. Up until that point, I was fighting for the win; after that, I was third and so on. But we didn’t solve the problem to start winning again.”

Bautista continued: “So I don’t know whether they’d solve this problem for me now or not, but it’s clear that Barni is working very hard. He’s built me a swingarm that’s different from the standard one. We’ve developed a swingarm that we’ve already used in England, and to be honest, it does have some positive characteristics that can help us, but it’s also true that we’re constantly changing lots of things. Even in some races, we line up with different set-ups because we want to improve, and sometimes we get it wrong. But Barni is giving 110 per cent to help me rediscover that feeling.”

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