Reigning World Superbike champion Alvaro Bautista will take part in a wild-card MotoGP outing for the factory squad in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang in November.
The Spaniard – who is also currently leading the 2023 WSBK standings for the factory Ducati outfit – recently completed a couple of tests on the Italian marque’s premier class machine at Misano as a reward for his 2022 WSBK crown, his performance across both convincing Ducati that it should field Bautista in a one-off MotoGP encounter.
The Malaysian GP has been selected as it’s the first MotoGP event that takes place following the conclusion of the WSBK season, set for the 28th/29th October weekend at Jerez – two weeks before the contest at the Sepang International Circuit.
“I’m really happy to be able to race in MotoGP as a wildcard at Sepang, a track that I really like and that I’m happy to be back at since it’s not on the WorldSBK calendar,” said Bautista on his unexpected opportunity to return to the premier class in Malaysia.
“The tests with the Ducati Desmosedici GP gave positive feedback: the feeling was good, and I had fun.
“I want to sincerely thank Ducati and Aruba.it because, without them, it would have been impossible to have this opportunity.”
The Malaysian GP will be Bautista’s first MotoGP outing since the end of his final full campaign in the series back in 2018, when he competed with then-satellite Ducati team Aspar – the three-time premier class rostrum finisher making a brief switch to the factory squad that year at the Australian GP to replace an injured Jorge Lorenzo, in which he finished an impressive fourth.
His Malaysian cameo marks the third and final event of the year Ducati will enter its Aruba.it-backed wild-carding Desmosedici, with test rider Michele Pirro having already run his first at Mugello in Italy, while the Italian’s second and final outing of the year will come in September’s San Marino GP at Misano.
