Superbike, Barni confirms Bautista's departure: another Spaniard set to join the garage

The Italian team has confirmed the departure of the two-time SBK world champion, with another Spanish rider set to join Montella.

Alvaro Bautista will not race with the Barni Spark Racing Team in the 2027 Superbike World Championship. This morning, Marco Barnabò’s squad officially confirmed that their professional relationship will end at the conclusion of the 2026 season.

No surprise here; it had long been known that a split was coming. The results of the 41-year-old Spanish rider have not met expectations and, despite building an excellent personal rapport and always striving to give his best at work, the parties will not continue together in 2027.

Bautista has collected 125 points in the first ten rounds of the 2026 SBK calendar and sits tenth in the overall standings. He has just one podium to his name, third place in Race 2 at Phillip Island. It’s also worth noting that he missed all three races at Most (Czech Republic) due to a right foot injury suffered after a heavy crash in the third free practice session.

The comparison with teammate Yari Montella is stark: he is third in the standings with 269 points and a total of fourteen podiums, the latest in Race 2 at the Cremona Circuit last Sunday. The Campanian rider has clearly felt at ease with the new Panigale V4 R, while for Alvaro it has been more complicated than in past years due to having to race with a 6–7 kilogram ballast.

Bautista’s seat at the Barni Spark Racing Team will be taken by another Spanish rider, Xavi Vierge. The 29-year-old Catalan raced for four years with the Honda HRC team and in 2026 moved to the Pata Maxus Yamaha garage; stepping onto a Ducati Panigale V4 R should mark the turning point of his World Superbike career. A bit like what happened to Iker Lecuona, who was his teammate at Honda and in 2026 became super competitive riding for the Aruba.it Ducati team.

Barnabò’s team has not yet announced Vierge’s signing, but the deal is essentially done. Before choosing him, other riders were also evaluated; one of them was Alex Rins, who had also been in contact with the Go Eleven team before deciding not to enter WorldSBK and to embark on a career in car racing once the 2026 MotoGP season concluded.

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