Jerez, Round 2: Race stoppage leads to Kawasaki one-two – Aegerter second!

The second race of the 2026 Supersport World Championship at the Circuito de Jerez got underway at 2.00 pm. At the start of the race, dark clouds rolled over the circuit and, at 23 degrees Celsius, it was significantly cooler than on Saturday. Although the World Championship had already been decided in favour of Albert Arenas (Yamaha) following the Estoril round, numerous riders were keen to make a strong impression ahead of contract negotiations for the coming season.

For the second race, the top nine riders started based on their fastest lap times from Race 1. From 10th on the grid onwards, the order was determined by the Superpole results. Consequently, Jorge Navarro (Triumph), Can Öncü (Yamaha) and Arenas started the race from the front row. Dominique Aegerter was seventh on the grid. As Simon Jespersen (Ducati) and Yuki Okamoto (Yamaha) had to sit out Sunday’s race following crashes on Saturday, Philipp Öttl (18th/Ducati) and Andreas Kofler (28th/Yamaha) moved up one and two positions respectively.

Arenas entered the first corner ahead of Öncü and Navarro. Behind them were Tom Booth-Amos (Triumph) and Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki), with Aegerter in seventh. The Englishman emerged from the first lap in third place behind the Yamaha riders. With a strong opening lap, Valentin Debise moved up to sixth place.

Following an over-optimistic braking manoeuvre, Booth-Amos attempted to out-brake Öncü at Turn 6 on the second lap, but crashed heavily into the rear of Arenas’ Yamaha. Whilst Booth-Amos managed to leave the danger zone under his own steam, the world champion was carried off on a stretcher and taken to the medical centre.

The incident caused quite a shake-up in the field. After lap 3, Alcoba led ahead of Debise and Öncü. Navarro was now the best-placed Triumph rider in fourth. Aegerter was in eighth place, Öttl followed in 13th and Kofler in 24th.

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The leading group extended as far back as Ondrej Vostatek (Triumph), who, in 14th place after five laps, was just 2.4 seconds behind the leader, Debise. The Frenchman, together with Öncü, had pulled away from the chasing pack by a few bike lengths. Meanwhile, Aegerter had worked his way up to fourth place.

At the halfway stage, Ducati rider Matteo Ferrari was leading the race, closely followed by Aegerter, Öncü, Debise and Alcoba. Öttl was battling with Corentin Perolari for 12th place.

At the front, the lap times were getting faster and faster. On lap 10 of 17, Öncü set the fastest lap of the race in 1:42.311 minutes, but was nevertheless overtaken by Aegerter. The Swiss rider then even snatched the lead from Ferrari at the start of the twelfth lap!

It wasn’t just Aegerter who found his rhythm in the second half of the race; his Kawasaki team-mate did too. The young Spaniard was the next to take the lead. By now, the leading quartet had pulled 1.3 seconds clear of Debise, Zaccone and Navarro.

For Navarro, the race was over on lap 13 following a crash. When red flags were subsequently waved, with two-thirds of the race distance completed, the second race was classified as follows: Alcoba won ahead of Aegerter – the Kawasaki pit was in a state of pandemonium. Ferrari finished third.

The best Yamaha rider was Can Öncü in fourth place, followed by ZX-Moto rider Debise in fifth.

Philipp Öttl still managed to pick up four World Championship points in twelfth place. Andi Kofler, in 22nd place, scored no points.

Other positions: Corentin Perolari (11th/Honda), Ondrej Vostatek (13th/Triumph), Bahattin Sofuoglu (16th/QJ Motor), Samuel Di Sora (23rd/MV Agusta).