Supersport Estoril: Make way for Albert Arenas, the second World Championship title is all but secured

The World Championship had been served up on a silver platter: with rival Valentin Debise forced to start in the middle of the pack, Albert Arenas only had to stay out of trouble to celebrate the Supersport crown with three races to spare. But racers are racers—they are never satisfied.

Instead of playing it safe, the Spaniard threw himself into the Supersport wolf pack to take everything. What could be better than celebrating a World Championship title from the top step of the podium? Race 1 was an incredible battle, with eight fired-up riders all determined to win. Arenas was the one with the most to lose, but he did not back down for even a second.

Throughout the race, Arenas tried to hold back the potential of the Triumphs ridden by tough Tom Booth-Amos and charging Oliver Bayliss, who was chasing his first World Championship victory. There was no stopping them, and late in the race Jeremy Alcoba also emerged from the back of the pack, with the Kawasaki 636 having turned into a missile during this final part of the season. In the sprint to the line, Booth-Amos halted Junior Bayliss’s ambitions, while Alcoba claimed third place. Arenas, therefore, on the biggest day of his career, just missed out on the podium—but who cares? The only objective that mattered was already in the bag. Albert had previously been crowned World Champion in Moto3 in 2020 with the Aspar team’s KTM. That is why, during the little trackside celebration, he found a lookalike wearing the helmet and leathers of the Arenas of six years ago. As if to say: I’ve come full circle.

The World Championship heading to Spain is a fantastic reward for Andrea Quadranti, the passionate team manager who spent years attempting to reach the World Championship with MV Agusta. It was a technically difficult challenge for a variety of reasons. With Yamaha, he began a new chapter, immediately christened with a world title. Yamaha’s Iwata-based operation is celebrating too, redeeming in the support series the disappointments it has endured in Superbike: the Constructors’ Championship has also been wrapped up early.

It was Albert Arenas’s race, but the extraordinary performance of the Triumph pairing did not go unnoticed. There is plenty of Italy here too, because the PTR team’s technical operation is led by Marco Agostini, an excellent technician from Empoli who has now become an indispensable figure in the fortunes of the illustrious British marque’s Supersport project.

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