Who Is Álvaro Bautista?
Álvaro Bautista won the Superbike World Championship in 2022 and 2023, both with the factory Ducati team. He is Spanish, born in Talavera de la Reina in 1984, and had already been a Grand Prix world champion once — the 125cc title in 2006 — before he ever rode a Superbike.
The middle of his career was nine seasons in MotoGP without a win. He rode for Suzuki, Honda, Aprilia and Ducati between 2010 and 2018, made 159 starts and finished on the podium three times. Ducati offered him a Superbike ride for 2019, when he was 34.
He won his first race in the class by nearly 15 seconds, and then ten more in a row. Eleven consecutive victories was a championship record at the time; it stood until Toprak Razgatlıoğlu won 13 straight in 2024. Crashes and a shoulder injury cost Bautista the 2019 title, and two seasons on an uncompetitive Honda followed.
Back at Ducati he was champion twice. He led the 2022 season from the opening round and sealed it with a round to spare, then took 27 wins from 36 races in 2023 — the first Ducati rider to defend the Superbike title since Carl Fogarty in 1999.
