HRC rider gets Bautista’s bike for 2026
Iker Lecuona will join the Aruba.it Racing–Ducati squad for the 2026 Superbike World Championship, stepping aboard the new Ducati Panigale V4R and lining up alongside Nicolò Bulega as the Italian outfit confirms its complete rider roster for next season. The 24-year-old Spaniard, born in 2000, arrives at Ducati’s factory WorldSBK team after four seasons in Moto2 and a 2020 MotoGP debut, having switched to production-based racing in 2022.
Across 113 WorldSBK starts he has collected two podiums and a pole position, credentials Ducati believes will translate into front-running potential with its latest-spec V4R. The announcement also signals the closing chapter of Alvaro Bautista’s time as an official Ducati rider, with the partnership set to conclude at the end of 2025.
Bautista departs as Ducati’s most decorated WorldSBK racer, amassing 63 victories, 120 podiums and 10 pole positions along with two world titles across five seasons in red from 2019 to 2025. Ducati Corse has extended its thanks to the Spaniard for an era defined by record-breaking success, while turning the page to a Bulega–Lecuona line-up it expects to feature prominently in 2026.
