Ducati honest about contract renewals for Nicolo Bulega, Alvaro Bautista
Nicolo Bulega’s WorldSBK future is unlikely to be decided in the near future, according to Ducati management.
With a contract expiring at the end of 2025 and a current lead of 29 points in the 2025 riders’ standings, it would be understandable if Ducati was growing impatient to re-sign its young Italian star Nicolo Bulega.
But, being only at round three of the 2025 World Superbike season at present, it’s perhaps understandable that there is nothing concrete yet about Bulega’s future.
“To be honest we are just at the third round so there is no rush [to finalise a contract with Bulega],” said Aruba.it Racing Ducati Team Principal Stefano Cecconi, speaking to the international TV feed during FP1 in Assen.
“We just started to talk about the future, but no decisions are going to be taken soon.”
He added: “I hope [...] before the beginning of the summer [break] to be 90 per cent sure about what’s going on. So, sooner is better but we have no rush, so we will take our time, a few weeks or a couple of months.”
There are also question marks about Alvaro Bautista’s future. The Spanish rider will be 41 before the start of the 2026 season, but indicated on Thursday in Assen that he doesn’t yet plan on retiring.
“About Alvaro, the first question is to see if he is going to have fun again with the bike,” said Cecconi.
“As he has [said] many times, the feeling on the bike is very important to take the decision if to carry on or not. He’s on a good path so far, so starting from Australia despite some issues during the race.
“He’s quite feeling good on the bike and if there is this feeling then we can talk about the future.”
Bautista said that his desire to continue in 2026 is partly based on the impending arrival of the new-generation Panigale V4 from Ducati. However, Cecconi said that Ducati will not start testing with the new bike with its race riders until its 2026 line-up is confirmed.
“Usually as a policy we want to be sure first that the rider is going to stay and then work on the bike because it doesn’t make sense to work on the bike with a rider that you’re not sure if they will stay or not,” Cecconi said.
“Let’s say, renewal first and then we will focus on the bike with the riders that we will be sure to have.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
