Image: Supplied.

Reigning Superbike World champion Alvaro Bautista will race-on with Ducati in 2024, signing a contract extension to continue with the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team.

Bautista made his WorldSBK debut with the outfit in 2019 and returned to the squad last year after a stint with Team HRC. He was successful in capturing the 2022 title following a commanding season and has delivered a convincing start to the 2023 campaign.

“After 21 years spent in the elite of world motorcycling, in the paddocks of MotoGP and Superbike, I now feel in excellent shape, both physically and mentally,” Bautista explained. “I can say that I am in the best moment of my career, I have a lot of fun riding the bike and I have the pleasure of working with a team that I consider a second family.

“By the way, on a personal level, my family is getting bigger, and the babies are growing up and that is why the decision to race in 2024 was a choice I wanted to make together with them. We decided to continue and I’m very happy to stay with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team with whom I’ve always had a wonderful relationship.

“I am happy that they still want me, even though I am a little old. One more year together, with the hope of keeping the fantastic feeling with the bike, the certainty of an extraordinary working relationship, and, of course, the goal of aiming at great results.”

After the first three rounds of the 2023 season, Bautista is firmly leading the standings with 174 points, 56 points ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu. At the previous round at the Assen circuit, he was able to score a hat-trick of wins that gave Ducati its historic 400th WorldSBK victory, and he will look to carry that form into Catalunya this weekend.

However, rev limit updates outlined ahead of the upcoming round will see the maximum rev limit for Ducati decreased by 250 rpm, while Kawasaki has elected to use five concession points to benefit from a 250 rpm rev limit increase.