Alvaro Bautista’s Love-Hate Relationship with Superbike: “I Feel Discriminated Against”

The two-time WorldSBK champion could be close to ending his motorcycle racing career: he has no ride lined up for 2027.

Alvaro Bautista’s 2026 season has not gone the way he and the Barni Racing Team had imagined when they signed the contract. The new Ducati Panigale V4 R is a bike that better suits physically larger riders, so having to race with 6–7 kilograms of ballast has put him at a disadvantage compared with when he rode the previous model.

Marco Barnabò’s team has worked incredibly hard and invested a considerable amount of money to make him as comfortable as possible, but there was no way to work miracles. The two-time Superbike world champion is tenth in the standings with 137 points, one ahead of Miguel Oliveira (BMW). The final round of the 2026 season at Jerez could also be the last of his career.

The Barni Racing Team has already announced that Xavi Vierge, currently a Yamaha rider, will take Bautista’s place in 2027. The 41-year-old from Talavera de la Reina has repeatedly said that he still feels fast and competitive, but he has no ride lined up for next year. The Superbike grid is almost full, so it seems unlikely that he will return to the production-based championship in 2027.

In an interview with the official WorldSBK channels, Alvaro said he had no news about next year: "I’m in the same situation as I was in Estoril. For now, the only thing I know for sure is that I have this weekend. After that, I’ll take some time to see what options I have for the future, and whether there’s anything that will motivate me to keep racing. I feel good physically and mentally as a rider. I still feel fast and competitive. If I can get a good feeling from the bike, I can be competitive and fight for the top positions. We’ll see".

Bautista also took the opportunity to reiterate that he does not feel entirely comfortable because of the much-discussed minimum-weight rule, which forces him to race with ballast on his Ducati: "The situation in this championship isn’t easy for riders like me, who are small. I need to take a break and think about whether it’s a good idea to continue in this championship or not, because I feel discriminated against. It’s not easy for me to keep pushing against a wall".

Bautista was able to revive his career in WorldSBK after his years in MotoGP, but the last few seasons have been difficult because of a rule that has put him at a considerable disadvantage: "Superbike gave me a second chance to show my potential after my experience in MotoGP. I won a lot of races and two titles. This championship has given me a lot, but at the same time it has left me with a bitter taste, because I’ve felt somewhat discriminated against because of my physique. I understand the rules, and I know they were trying to balance the manufacturers’ performance. The idea was a good one, but I didn’t like the fact that it penalized a rider; that’s unfair. A line has been crossed. I love and hate this championship".

Alvaro had tried to take direct action to have the rule scrapped, even getting his fellow riders to sign a petition. It made no difference, and no rule changes that might help him are planned for 2027. If he finds a way to keep racing in the class, he would have to do so under the same conditions as today. While he waits to see whether he ultimately retires—he will turn 42 in November—his goal at Jerez is to be as competitive as he was in Estoril and give himself a fitting finish to the 2026 World Superbike Championship.

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