Electrifying Supersport: Jaume Masia vs Albert Arenas, the duel between former Moto3 champions

There was a time when winning the 125cc or Moto3 World Championship was the passport to a future in MotoGP. For Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez, Jorge Martin, and many others, it was the first seal on brilliant careers.

Of course, there were some riders who couldn’t then make their way in Grand Prix racing and switched to Supersport. One above all is Sandro Cortese, Moto3 World Champion in 2012 and SSP Champion in 2018. Until recently, however, Moto3 stars who radically changed paddocks after a few years were rare; at most, they did so at the end of their careers. Lately, instead, Supersport has become the refugium peccatorum for former Moto3 golden boys. Not only for those who, for one reason or another, couldn’t break through in Moto3, but also for those who were crowned World Champions. And it’s not a given that a world title on the shelf is enough to open doors in SSP—far from it. Lorenzo Dalla Porta knows something about that: Moto3 World Champion in 2019, yet he wasn’t able to race full-time in WorldSSP essentially for budget reasons.

This year, two highly talented Spaniards are fighting for the Supersport world title. Leading the championship is Jaume Masia, who just three years ago triumphed in Moto3, with Albert Arenas, world champion in 2020, right behind him. If Masia’s move to SSP was extremely swift—lightning quick, as if to say, “OK, there’s no room for me in Grand Prix racing, I’ll jump straight into the Superbike paddock and show everyone who I am”—Arenas made the switch after five seasons in Moto2 and now on the threshold of thirty.

Masia arrived in SSP with Orelac, a historic but small, non-factory team. A perfect chemistry formed between him and the team, and last year he immediately delivered excellent results, finishing the World Championship in third place. Over the course of 2025 he was courted by various World Superbike teams who then preferred to bet on more experienced riders, those with a MotoGP past, or who were more attractive to sponsors. So Jaume remained under José Calero’s wing and in 2026 has already taken two wins and two second places.

Arenas entered Supersport through the front door with the AS BLU CRU Racing Team, a virtually factory outfit with vast experience in WorldSSP. The team raced in SSP for a long time with other motorcycle manufacturers before choosing Yamaha. In effect, it is the benchmark team for the tuning-fork brand alongside Ten Kate, after Evan Bros switched to ZX Moto. Arenas has everything top-notch and a super-competitive Yamaha R9.

Will the Supersport World Championship be a duel between the two Spaniards? At first glance, it would seem so. You could also factor in Oettl, who won race 2 at Assen with the Ducati Feel Racing WorldSSP Team, but in terms of pure talent he appears a notch below the two former world champions. Valentin Debise is surprising on the ZX Moto, but thinking he could even target the title with the new Chinese bike seems excessive. And Can Oncu on the Ten Kate Yamaha? He was one of the favorites and could join the title fight. Unfortunately, we’re not seeing any Italian riders capable of reviving the glories of Bulega and Manzi.