Newly crowned 2026 FIM Supersport World Champion Albert Arenas delivered a statement performance on home soil on Friday, smashing the all-time Circuito de Jerez lap record to secure pole position for the penultimate race of the season.
Fresh from sealing the title in Estoril last weekend, the Spaniard showed no signs of easing off as he set the pace for the AS BLU CRU Racing Team in front of his home crowd. Arenas’ blistering 1’41.084 lap was more than six-tenths of a second quicker than the previous circuit record, giving him the perfect platform to finish his championship-winning campaign in style
Can Öncü will line up third for Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing as he continues his push to secure third place in the World Championship standings this weekend.
Lucas Mahias qualified 11th for GMT94 Yamaha, with Filippo Farioli placing his VFT Racing Yamaha 13th. Roberto Garcia, declared fit to ride on Friday morning following his Race 2 incident in Estoril, endured a demanding day aboard the R9 and will start from 17th.
Yuki Okamoto will launch from 21st on the second Pata Yamaha Ten Kate machine. It was also a difficult outing for AS BLU CRU Racing’s Aldi Satya Mahendra, who will start the weekend’s opening race from 23rd on the grid.
The lights go out for Race 1 at 14:00 local time on Saturday.
Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing) – Pole Position (1’41.084)
“It was an incredible day today on track, I was so happy to ride again on a track I know after a period of five tracks in a row that I had to learn, and of course fighting for the championship too. The bike was really nice to ride today, so I could make the maximum and do a really nice lap to take the track record and set pole position. The aim now is to end the season on a high, especially after Estoril as I was very disappointed to miss the podium even if I became World Champion! Tomorrow I’ll do my best to fight for the podium but of course it would be nice to win at home.”
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