Álvaro Bautista (Ducati) accepted it: better to finish fourth than end up in the gravel

The 2026 Superbike World Championship did not go as Álvaro Bautista and his Ducati team, Barni Racing, had hoped. Instead, the new V4R accelerated the downward trend for the lightweight Spaniard, a trend that began with the introduction of the combined weight regulation three years ago.

However, there were also moments this year when the 41-year-old was able to show his class. These included his sole podium finish at Phillip Island (third place in the second race), three fourth-place finishes at Assen, and also at his home race at the Circuito de Jerez. With fourth-place finishes in the long races and sixth place in the Superpole race, the season finale marked his second-best race weekend of the year in terms of World Championship points scored.

Álvaro Bautista was denied a final podium finish in the Superbike World Championship

It was a bitter blow: in the final race, Bautista was running in third place for most of the race when, with five laps to go, rain began to fall from the dark clouds hanging over the circuit, and the two-time Superbike World Champion was pushed off the podium by his Ducati team-mate Sam Lowes on the final lap. “I’ve shown my potential once again. I missed out on the podium, but only by a whisker,” said the Spaniard. “When it was drizzling in some sections of the circuit, I lacked a reference point. It’s difficult to work out where it’s dangerous and where it isn’t – Sam was my reference point.”

At the same time, Bautista confirms Lowes’s suspicion that the tyres were the deciding factor. “But I also slowed down a bit because I was having problems with the tyres. On the final lap, I tried to pick up the pace again, but the tyre had cooled down and I had no grip or traction. At that moment, I thought that whilst third place would have been nicer, finishing the race was safer,” emphasised the Ducati rider with the most career wins. “I put in solid performances, including in the second race. My starts were good, as was my pace, and I built up a lead over Sam. The rain getting in the way in the final laps wasn’t a normal situation. It was better to cross the line than to end up in the gravel.”

Did Bautista notice the threat from behind posed by the Englishman? “I realised he was catching up, but there was nothing I could do about it,” insisted the rider, who will soon turn 42. “When I saw the gap changing, I knew he’d catch me quickly. With my tyres, I was powerless, and it would have been foolish to defend my position at all costs when I didn’t have the means to do so.”

Bautista finished the 2026 Superbike World Championship in ninth place with 167 points.