It’s been a season with great contrasts to the previous two for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati outfit. Alvaro Bautista may be the reigning double World Champion but he’s only taken two wins in 2024, whilst fresh teammate Nicolo Bulega has one from his rookie season, coming in Race 1 at the season-opener. Despite the challenges of new weight regulations, Bautista is third in the Championship and with the feeling coming back, team principal Serafino Foti is banking on him staying for at least 2025.

“WE DON’T HAVE PLAN B” – Foti’s focus on banking Bautista for another season

“We didn’t speak during the Portimao weekend because he prefers not to speak during the round,” began Serafino. “We will continue to work and whilst it isn’t defined yet, we’re close to trying to continue together. Soon, I can say if it’s 80% or 90% or 0% but I’m so confident. We don’t have any plan B because our goal is to continue with him.”

“THE BALANCE OF THE BIKE IS SO SENSITIVE” – weighing in on weight

Talking about sorting out their ballast for the #1 Ducati, Foti stated the complications: “This year, we’ve had some problems with the weight with Alvaro. It was difficult to find the best setup but from Most, we found the best compromise. We moved the weight in some areas and our engineers did a good job at home. He was competitive there and also at Portimao. He crashed but he was there and that’s the most important thing for the future. Toprak is so strong with 13 straight race wins but we’ll never give up, like always and for sure, we’ll continue to work for the future. Next year, we’ll have the same bike but it’s also important to keep improving it. This year has been so difficult but every race and all the time, we continue pushing.

“We continue working everywhere to try and improve; it’s not one area, it’s small things. The balance of the bike is so sensitive to the weight on Alvaro’s side. This is the problem. Some tracks, the weight is in a good weight but at others, you need to move it again. It’s not easy because the statiionary weight is one thing but the dynamic weight is a completely different story, so this is the main problem at the moment. We don’t know if one track will be aprticularly difficult because we’ll find out when we arrive there. The bike was quite good at Most and at Portimao, he had the same feeling.”

“NICOLO’S LINE IS A LOT LIKE JORGE LORENZO” – Bulega in the flow in rookie season

“Nicolo is a rookie but has a lot of experience,” started Foti, an ex-racer himself, knowing exactly the challenges and adaptations ‘Bulegas’ has needed to overcome. “He’s done Moto3™, Moto2™ and has a lot of experience elsewhere. His performance isn’t a surprise. In Race 2 at Portimao, I don’t think he could have been better. Toprak put a small gap on the last lap and whilst Nicolo was fast in the last corner, he was also 0.4s down at sector three. If he was 0.2, the race would be different but this is racing. He did a great race fighting with Toprak and he closed him down too. We’ll continue to work for Magny-Cours and I hope we beat Toprak again. To be honest, Nicolo’s line is a lot like Jorge Lorenzo. He’s smooth, so if he starts well, he can put a gap. However, in the opening laps, a lot of riders try to pass him but he does a good job.”

Ducati will be present at MotorLand Aragon in September for testing, along with the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK and Team HRC. There’s a new track surface to trial as well as some new parts as Foti confirmed when asked about the potential for new things in 2024: “Yes. We’ll do a test at Aragon in September but we’ll have some particular things. Nothing that you can see though, never!”

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