The WSBK 2026 will lower the curtain this weekend at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit, and there will be two Spanish drivers on whom attention will be focused. On the one hand we have Álvaro Bautista who faces his last race in the WSBK with his current team and who, for now, does not have a place for next year. On the other hand, we have Iker Lecuona who, after a brilliant season, is looking to say goodbye to the year in style and finish defining the set-up that will give him that extra bit he needs.
Both sat together before a joint interview conducted by WSBK where the man from Talavera, who will turn 42 in November, was unapologetic about his age and the fact that he shared the track with some drivers who, when they were little, asked him for photos and autographs.
In a relaxed chat in which the complicity between the two is palpable and, it is also confirmed that the relationship between them goes back a long way, it is clear that WSBK is very different and that being rivals on the track does not mean not helping each other. While Bautista is the best Spanish rider in the history of the championship with his two titles, his 63 victories and 129 podiums to date, Iker has an entire career ahead of him in which the four victories he has achieved this year and the 31 podiums he has (29 of them in 2026) are only the prelude to a future that promises great joys for Spanish motorcycling.
What relationship have you had with each other?
Iker Lecuona: «For me Álvaro is a reference. My idol is and continues to be Valentino Rossi, but for me, when I was a kid, Álvaro as a Spanish driver was my reference and I wanted to be like him. What’s more, I have a photo that we took together in Cheste, when I was a Suzuki rider. I was a child of six years old.
“I remember that when we met in MotoGP at the beginning of the season it was a bit difficult for him, but in the end he was going very fast.”
Alvaro Bautista: «You realize how old you are (laughs). The same thing happened to me with Aldeguer, when he came to do a wild-card in Sepang. He showed me a photo from 2007, when he was with Aspar and he was a baby. This is me! He told me and it hurt me! (laughs). It’s cool to be with them because that means I’ve done something right to be here for so long. Proud”.
You both went through the official HRC team in WSBK: Álvaro in 2021 and 2022 and you replaced him until 2025.
IL: «At the beginning, when I came to the championship, I was very young, I was 22 years old and had a year and a half of experience in MotoGP, because the year of the pandemic counts for half of it for me. I came here expecting to see what I was capable of. Logically, with Álvaro we talked about our way of riding, the motorcycles we rode were similar, not the same. “He helped me, we rode together, he with the Ducati and I with the Honda.”
AB: «They proposed a winning project to me with HRC and it motivated me a lot. There were many ideas there, but everything was very slow, a lot of politics within the factory. Things didn’t turn out the way we would have liked. When Iker arrived, we talked, he explained to me his problems with the motorcycle. “You don’t need to tell me anything,” I said, “I already know what you’re talking about.”
IL: “We drove very differently, but the problems were the same.”
AB: «The one who amazed me was my partner at the time, Leon Haslam. “He was capable of closing his eyes and doing some brutal turns.”
Iker also took Álvaro’s position at Ducati
Álvaro was an official Ducati rider until last year and, this season, Iker Lecuona occupies what was the Talavera de la Reina rider’s position.
IL: «When I took his place in the official Ducati team, he told me: I prefer it to be you and not someone else. And also that the team, its people and the motorcycle were great. He described it very well to me and he was right, that’s how it is, great. I went to his garage to ask for a wheel and he helped me when I was at Honda and he was at the Ducati team where I am now. I have always respected him and I will respect him. I have learned a lot from him. I hope he gets his record!”
AB: «Iker is very talented. With a good bike and a good team, you are capable of achieving results, but without a good bike, no matter how good you are, you do nothing.
Iker in the official team and Álvaro in Team Barni, both with the same 2026 Ducati Panigale V4 R…
AB: «My motorcycle is heavier. We are burdened by this stupid rule they made to stop me. It’s clear. It seemed like he didn’t like that I won so many races, and I won the World Championship in the last race in Jerez, not like Bulega, who has swept. It’s not fair that they penalize me because of my weight. Another thing would be to penalize all motorcycles of the same brand, as has been done, with weight, lap limitations or gasoline. But doing it because I’m small is unfair.
“I accept that they want to equalize the motorcycles, not the drivers.”
Jerez will be a special weekend for both Bautista and Lecuona
Both drivers arrive at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit with different approaches, but with the desire and possibility of being at the front…
IL: «With the runner-up I decide, I am still looking for the set-up that I found in Cremona, to win those tenths that Bulega has taken from me this season. Jerez is not my favorite circuit, but I will certainly try to win.
“It has been an incredible year for me and I want to close it enjoying Jerez.”
AB: «I’m going to try to enjoy a year in which, with injuries and so on, I haven’t had a good time. I want to enjoy it again and if I have good feelings, I will be ahead. I like the circuit, although that doesn’t guarantee anything. I hope we do a first and a second with Iker and have a Spanish podium! I’m not going to go to Jerez for a walk…”
IL: It would be fantastic to see Álvaro in front and, like in Assen, have two Spaniards on the podium.
AB: «Iker? Keep doing what you do. When you live that situation of harmony with the bike and the team, you have to enjoy it. “Let him continue as he has been until now, you can see him enjoying driving.”
