Checa on WorldSBK 2022 - ‘All three could be in MotoGP!’

2011 Champion Carlos Checa has given his insight into the current WorldSBK season and Ducati’s title-fighter Alvaro Bautista.

Eleven years on from his Superbike success, Checa is still the sole Spaniard to have claimed the trophy and the last on Ducati machinery, so is perfectly placed to analyse the man in charge of the standings after four rounds of 2022.

Bautista holds a 36-point advantage over Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea, and 79 over the defending Toprak Razgatlioglu, but the next venue on the calendar is the six-time champion’s home race at Donington Park.

“Honestly, I think it’s great,” Checa confirmed after Bautista equalled his victory tally of 22 wins in Bologna red at Misano last time out. “Alvaro is one of the best riders and, as a person, is super nice and friendly. I am delighted that he is succeeding.

“I’m not going to go into comparisons. My time was completely different from his, I had a totally different motorcycle, I rode in a private team with the support of Ducati… what seems strange to me is that this has not been achieved before and that 11 years have passed. But, in the end, technical decisions are made, team decisions, if they are not correct enough, that means it is not possible to win those titles and those victories that Ducati was used to in WorldSBK.

“When a rider has been able to go so fast on that bike, like Bautista did in 2019, it’s likely that he can go fast when he comes back,” he continued, on the Spaniard’s return to both Ducati and the front of the standings in 2022. “Alvaro is super involved with the bike. He looks very sure of himself and is capable of taking the Panigale to limits that other riders are not capable of reaching.

“I think that has thrown both Jonathan and Toprak off a