The 2026 FIM Supersport World Championship gets underway this weekend with Round 1 of the season taking place at the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Australia, and Yamaha Motor Europe’s teams are prepared and raring to go as they seek to retain the elusive triple crown won by the all-new Yamaha R9 in 2025.
The brand new, three-cylinder R9 made its debut in the championship in Australia this time last year, instantly making an impression with Stefano Manzi and the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing team taking victory in the very first race of the season.
It was a case of starting as he meant to go on for Manzi, who stormed to the title with 11 victories across the season. It was a 1-2 for the R9, with Can Öncü finishing runner-up, adding a further six victories to the R9’s tally. The strong season saw Yamaha win the ‘Triple Crown’, with success in the rider, team and manufacturer standings.
With Manzi graduating to the FIM Superbike World Championship with the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team for 2026, it is Öncü who will lead the R9’s charge as he moves to take Manzi’s place in the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate WorldSSP Supported Team. Öncü demonstrated his potential in 2025, with a number of his victories coming in dominant style and the young Turkish star is hopeful of taking another step in 2026 as he seeks the World Championship crown.
Öncü is joined in the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate team by Yuki Okamoto, who remains with WorldSSP’s most successful team for a second year having joined the Dutch effort following his victory in the 2024 All Japan Road Racing Championship.
Christophe Guyot’s GMT94 Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team returns once more in 2026, again fielding 2017 World Champion Lucas Mahias, who continued to show front-running potential with numerous podium finishes last season. He’s again joined by young Spaniard Roberto Garcia, who joined GMT94 Yamaha mid-way through the season in 2025, instantly impressing with his pace despite having never raced in WorldSSP before. The podium will be a clear goal for both of the French team’s riders in 2026.
Joining Yamaha’s esteemed roster of teams for 2026 is the new-look AS BLU CRU Racing WorldSSP Supported Team. Former WorldSSP race winners, the team headed by Andrea Quadranti switch to the R9. Indonesian star Aldi Satya Mahendra moves to the new team for 2026 having risen through the BLU CRU ranks from the FIM Yamaha R3 BLU CRU World Cup, to winning the Supersport 300 World Championship in 2024 and then graduating to WorldSSP in 2025, where he showed strong potential as a rookie until injury curtailed his campaign. Mahendra is joined at the AS BLU CRU Racing team by 2020 Moto3 World Champion Albert Arenas, who moves to WorldSSP after finishing eighth in the Moto2 World Championship last season.
The VFT Racing team will continue with the R9 this season, with Filippo Farioli joining forces with the Italian team, while the total number of R9s on the grid will increase to nine with the addition of Cerba Yamaha Racing Team, who will field Xavi Cardelus and the Yamalube Motorsport Kofler team will enter all European rounds with Andreas Kofler.
The opening round of the season kicks off on Friday with Free Practice and Superpole for the WorldSSP riders ahead of the first two races of the season on Saturday and Sunday, both set to take place at 14:30 local time.
Niccolò Canepa, Road Racing Sporting Manager, Motorsport Division, Yamaha Motor Europe
“The R9 made an incredible debut in the WorldSSP championship in 2025, winning the title in its very first attempt which makes the goal for 2026 very simple – we want to retain that title! While the World Champion, Stefano Manzi, moves up to Superbike, our rider line-up remains super-strong. Can Öncü showed his potential on the R9 last year, and we are hopeful that the move to the Ten Kate team will help him find the consistency he needs to fight for the title this year. Already a World Champion, we are hugely excited to have Albert Arenas join our line-up this year – he has an all-new bike and championship to learn but we are confident once he gets up to speed, he too will be challenging at the front with the new AS BLU CRU Racing team.
“GMT94’s line-up of Roberto Garcia and Lucas Mahias offers the fantastic combination of youth and experience, and both riders showed a lot of promise last year – so we are keen to see them build on this.
“Stepping up to WorldSSP from WorldSSP300 was a big step for Aldi Mahendra, but he honestly impressed us a lot last season with his pace and if it hadn’t been for the injury, we are confident he could have enjoyed some strong top five results towards the end of the year – which will be the goal as we move into this season. For Yuki Okamoto, 2025 was a year of learning – everything was new for him as he came over from Japan, so this year is his chance to show what he has to offer. We are really looking forward to getting started!”
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