Supersport Aragon: Arenas blazes to Superpole, but the Chinese riders are a real threat

Albert Arenas, 30, will start from Superpole in Race 1 of the World Supersport Championship at Motorland Aragon. A fierce reaction from the Spaniard, who came off worse in the last showdown in the Czech Republic due to contact with rival Jaume Masia, who will start only seventh.

Arenas, a former Moto3 world champion, grabbed the top spot on his very last attempt with a 1'53"142 lap (still far from the '25 record) after being tangled up in the usual traffic that now characterizes qualifying in the junior series during the previous runs. Amid sudden slowdowns and heated gestures between riders—likely to lead to penalties before the start—Albert found clear track and managed to beat by just fifteen thousandths the time set a minute earlier by the ever-quick Valentin Debise on the Chinese missile ZXMoto.

Debise had jumped to the top of the timesheets by using teammate Federico Caricasulo’s slipstream on Motorland Aragon’s one-kilometer straight. A perfect strategy orchestrated by the Evan Bros team that was extracting the maximum. But then Arenas, with a late burst, turned the tables.

Right now, the ZXMoto is the only true challenger to the Yamaha armada which, in the wake of World Championship leader Alberto Arenas, also placed the ever more eager Roberto Garcia in third, ahead of the habitual front-runner Can Oncu. The Turkish rider suffered a fall at the start of the session—one of many, particularly in Turn 1—compromising his chance to attack for pole.

Alessandro Zaccone, sixth, was both the best of the Italians and Ducati’s top performer, even better than Jaume Masia who, even on home soil, will be forced to charge from the third row to prevent the unleashed Arenas from escaping—especially in the championship. A tumble prevented Matteo Ferrari from doing better than eighth, but in the Spanish races the WRP Ducati rider will have a chance to make amends, as will Mattia Casadei, eleventh with the team of Davide Giugliano’s Panigale V2.

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