Álvaro Bautista was unable to win his third Superbike World Champion title. After his triumphs in 2022 and 2023, the driver was once again the favorite this year, not least because of his dominance in previous seasons.
However, the challenges were significant, and the Aruba.it Ducati rider quickly fell out of contention for the title. The introduction of the mandatory minimum combined weight for the bike and rider was one of the reasons for the drop in performance, although it was not the only one.
In an interview with GPOne.com, Bautista admitted that he himself has lost ground in some areas, while the level of competition in WSBK has increased:
– As we know, there were technical changes in 2024. La Panigale gained something while I lost in other areas. Certainly, the level of the category has increased, also thanks to the super concessions, which were used very well by Toprak [Razgatlioglu] a BMW.
In his first year with BMW, Razgatlioglu was the top performer, setting new records for consecutive victories on his way to the championship. He beat Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati), while Bautista finished third.
