Albert Arenas extended his lead in the 2026 FIM Supersport World Championship with second place in Race 1 at MotorLand Aragón, narrowly missing out on a home victory on the last lap.
Starting from pole position, Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing) bolted off the line to lead into turn one, a position he’d maintain until the penultimate lap of the race when Zaccone made a move on the Spaniard, and while Arenas regained the lead on the final lap, he’d lose out on the back straight and have to settle for second place.
Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha) had looked to be an early challenger to Arenas, sitting comfortably in second place. However, the 19-year-old would lose ground towards the end of the race and crossed the line fourth overall.
It was a strong race for 2024 Supersport 300 World Champion Aldi Satya Mahendra (AS BLU CRU Racing), who fought for a top five finish until the closing stages of the race, missing out by just 0.053 seconds to cross the line sixth.
Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing’s Can Öncü had been due to start the race from fourth, but a penalty for improving his lap time under yellow flags in the morning warm-up session meant he’d have to start from the back of the grid. Making strong progress, the Turkish rider climbed to 12th by the chequered flag, ahead of VFT Racing’s Filippo Farioli and GMT94 Yamaha’s Lucas Mahias.
Yuki Okamoto (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) crossed the line 24th overall.
Arenas’ second place came at a good time, with his championship rivals all struggling on Saturday, meaning he extends his lead atop of the standings from 19 to 31 points.
Having set the third quickest lap of the race, Mahendra will lead the R9 charge on in Sunday’s second race, starting on the front row for the first time in his career in third. Garcia heads up row two in fourth ahead of Arenas. Öncu will start 11th. Lights go out at 14:00 local time.
FULL RACE ONE RESULTS
GRID FOR RACE 2
Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing) – Race 1: 1st, Championship: 1st (186 points)
“It was a very nice race for us; I had a really good rhythm and managed to lead almost all of the race. I am very happy with the work we are doing, the pole position was nice and the pace we were doing is very good. I had a very good start, and today I thought it was important to try and go at the front which we did. In the end, I did not know what bike was behind me so I did not know what strategy to take, the bikes have different advantages so I just tried to push as hard as I could. I tried to hold onto first position, but was not able to in the last sector, but I think we have to be happy, we have done a good job and we need to be consistent if we want to fight for the championship.”
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