Two-time MOTUL FIM Superbike World Champion Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) his racing for his future in the closing rounds of 2026, and while the Tissot Estoril Round ended with heartbreak, the Spanish star showed strong pace at the Circuito Estoril and proved he can still fight at the front for the silverware-earning positions. His return to the podium battle could hardly be better timed, as the final stop on the 2026 WorldSBK calendar takes him to one of his favourite hunting grounds: his home Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto, Andalucia, where he has taken five wins and a total of nine podiums.
STRONG JUMPS OFF THE LINE AT ESTORIL
Bautista’s round began from back on the fourth row from P12 after setting a 1’35.184s time on Saturday morning. In Race 1, he took full advantage of a strong jump off the line to take P10 by the opening lap. Hed later improved to P8 by Lap 6 after overcoming Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven6. Saturday ended, however, in P9 for the Spaniard after his teammate Yari Montella reeled in the #19 overlap 17 and found a way past on Lap 18.
Sunday morning’s Tissot Superpole Race saw an even better drive off the line at lights out as Bautista moved from P12 to P6 over the opening lap. Lap 2 saw him sweeten the deal even further as he moved past Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) for a spot in the top five. The #19 settled into a rhythm as the race continued and his Ducati Panigale V4R’s fuel load lightened. He defended the position with a three-tenths gap on Lap 4 before breaking it open to just shy of two seconds as they crossed the line for the final time in the race.
“I LOST THE FRONT, I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT FROM OTHER LAPS… WE SHOWED OUR POTENTIAL, BUT IT WAS A SHAME THAT I COULDN’T FINISH THE WAR”
Having secured his best result since Balaton Park on Sunday morning, Bautista looked reinvigorated on Sunday in Race 2. Again, he timed his start to perfection, fighting for third place by the end of the first lap with rookie Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing). Bassani intervened in their duel for third as the Italian took P4 for himself on Lap 3. The #19 sent him back to fourth after he outbraked him on the long start/finish straight into Turn 1. From there, Bautista stalked the rookie, the margin between them hovering around half a second over the first nine laps, before being cut to just a tenth on Lap 11 as Bautista began to size up a move. He made it stick on Lap 13 and increased his gap ahead of the rookie over the next three laps up to seven tenths by Lap 16. Disaster struck for the #19 however, when on the heavy-braking Turn 1, he lost the front, spoiling what would have been his first podium since Phillip Island.
On his Race 2, after the fight at the front and crash, Bautista was matter-of-fact but saw the positives from the race. He said: “In Race 2, starting from the front makes your life easier. The first lap for me was a question of survival; the bike was taking me outside every corner. I can’t stop the bike. It has a lot of inertia. In the first five or six laps, it’s just trying to survive, I can’t attack, I can’t do anything. Once those laps had passed, I saw I was in fourth. I was getting a better and better pace and we fought a bit for third place. When I was in the front, I thought I could just put in my pace and be consistent. Then, in Turn 1, I lost the front. I didn’t do anything strange or different from other laps, but I just lost the front. I think we need to be proud regardless. We showed our speed, we fought all round, we never gave up, and we will fight until the end. We showed our potential, but it was a shame that I crashed and couldn’t finish the war.”
“BELIEVE ME, IF I FELT THAT I DIDN’T HAVE THE SPEED, OR THAT I COULDN’T BE COMPETITIVE, I’D GO HOME”
As it stands, the two-time WorldSBK Champion is without a ride for next season, and while he has had his share of troubles this season in adapting to Danilo Petrucci's (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) former bike from his Factory Ducati machine of past seasons, Bautista showed that he still has the pace to fight for the podium. He is guaranteed at least one more shot to race for his future at what will be a dramatic final home round to close the 2026 season.
When asked about his feelings about the future and his will to continue, the Spaniard was resolute in his conviction that his pace is there. He said: “Believe me, if I felt that I didn’t have the speed, or that I couldn’t be competitive, I’d go home, but I feel that I have the speed and can land good results. I have the speed and will never give up. The day that I don’t feel the fight inside me, I’ll stay at home. When things are in the right place, we can still do it. In sports – like in life – you need a bit of good luck, but in any case, I’m proud of my work and my team’s work.”
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