Santiago Barragan is another of the Spanish riders to have landed himself a place on the WorldSBK grid for 2015. Born in Almendralejo in Spain’s autonomous community of Extremadura, the 28-year-old first debuted in the paddock back in 2008. Back then, he was participating in the World Supersport Championship with the Honda-powered Glaner Motocard.com squad – run by Provec, the outfit now behind the Kawasaki Racing Team World Superbike effort of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes. At the time, Barragan was team-mate to Catalan rider Joan Lascorz.

After a year in Superstock 1000 with the Holiday Gym Racing team, Barragan returned to Spain and competed in the FIM CEV Repsol championship, ending both the 2010 and 2011 seasons as overall runner-up in the Stock Extreme category.

“I am excited to be back in the paddock and to be competing in World Superbike,” Barragan comments. “This year I want to improve my performance and results as the season goes on. I was in World Supersport in 2008 and the following year in Stock 1000, then making a good name for myself in the CEV. So I’m now very happy to be back in WorldSBK. I am just looking to learn as much as possible and, realistically, I’m looking to score points in every race. It will be difficult, but that’s the goal.”

Barragan has experienced a mixed start to 2015, with the high point so far being Phillip Island Race 2 which saw him score his first points with 13th position. Next weekend, he will race in Spain for the first time this season at MotorLand Aragon.