Top today, flop tomorrow: Can Öncü (22) leaves Ten Kate Yamaha baffled

A glance at the overall standings of the 2026 Supersport World Championship leaves no one at Ten Kate Yamaha satisfied. Star rider Can Öncü has yet to secure a victory and is already 92 points behind championship leader Albert Arenas, who rides the same bike. The coveted world title is out of reach. On the other side of the garage, the hoped-for improvement from Yuki Okamoto has failed to materialise – the Japanese rider has scored just three world championship points in the 14 races so far.

What is striking about Öncü is his inconsistent results at Ten Kate. One weekend the 22-year-old is battling for podium places, the next he can only manage a top-10 finish. Misano was an exception in that the talented Turk, after finishing third on Saturday, could only manage tenth in the second race. When the protégé of record-breaking Supersport world champion Kenan Sofuoglu rode for Team Evan Bros last year, there were no such fluctuations.

Team manager Kervin Bos is also puzzled as to why the results are as they are. “Can made it onto the podium [in the first race] – if you can’t win a race, you have to be on the podium. That was our goal, and we achieved it. Our rivals had phenomenal race pace, and Can lost touch when several extremely fast laps were set in the second half of the race,” explained the Dutchman. “However, we left Misano with mixed feelings. We’re not happy with Can’s tenth place and Yuki’s 28th place. It’s not yet clear why we ended up in these positions. Sometimes you just have to accept it. The only thing you can do is analyse what happened and come back stronger next time.”