SBK, Jerez Test: How did Alvaro Bautista’s debut with the Barni team go?

Bautista has stayed within the Ducati family but changed garages: here’s the rundown of his first Superbike test at Jerez with his new colors.

Among the riders who changed teams for 2026 compared to last season is Alvaro Bautista, who moved to the Barni Spark Racing Team to replace Danilo Petrucci, who switched to the BMW garage. A major coup by Marco Barbabò, who secured a two-time WorldSBK champion who spent five years racing the Panigale V4 R with the factory Aruba Ducati squad—a rider who, despite being 41 years old and carrying a 6–7 kg ballast, still feels highly competitive. There was great anticipation to see him in action in his new colors at the recent test held at Jerez de la Frontera.

Unfortunately, the first two days of work for the Superbike teams were affected by the weather and didn’t allow anyone to complete their planned programs. Ducati brought a new Panigale V4 R to the track and, as a result, logging as many kilometers as possible is crucial to understand how to develop and best exploit the new technical package. On day one, with the track consistently wet, Bautista completed 18 laps, ending with the eighth-best time of 1:56.770, 3.794s off leader Danilo Petrucci. A cautious approach, given the conditions.

On day 2, there were about two hours of semi-dry asphalt in the afternoon, and the two-time WorldSBK champion finished with 25 laps and the fifteenth time of 1:40.475 (+1.144s from Nicolò Bulega). It wasn’t the test Bautista and the Barni Spark Racing Team had hoped for, but both sides began to get to know each other better and to work together. Some useful information was gathered in Andalusia.

Bautista had this to say about his debut with Marco Barnabò’s outfit: "The conditions weren’t ideal to start this new challenge with the team, but we still managed to ride a bit in both wet and dry. The feelings are very positive: we’re starting to understand each other within the team, to grasp the work to be done, and to get familiar with the new bike. There’s certainly still a lot to do and in these two days we couldn’t do much, but at least the sensations remain positive."

Unfortunately, it seems that even at the next test in Portimão the conditions won’t be favorable. The weather forecast indicates a concrete risk that rain will once again spoil the Superbike teams’ plans.