Honda has this morning confirmed Alvaro Bautista will join its WorldSBK squad for the 2020 season.

Bautista has been coy over whether he had signed a deal with HRC after announcing his departure from Ducati, leading to speculation he might replace Johann Zarco at KTM.

However, the official communique from HRC has put that to bed - but it’s only a one-year deal, which can only mean Bautista is being cautious about the ‘new’ Fireblade.

“We are very happy to welcome Alvaro Bautista to our WSBK racing project for next year,” said Yoshishige Nomura, HRC president.

His arrival in the Honda racing family underlines our strong commitment to compete at full force in every motorsport category, fighting to achieve top sporting results and looking for the best technological innovations, in order to offer our fans and customers fun, joy and excellent products.

“Alvaro is a very fast, experienced rider who has already shown his strong racing attitude and competitiveness in his GP years and in his first season in the WSBK Championship.

We are confident that he will make a significant contribution to the growth and development of our project in the exciting and challenging Superbike World Championship.”