Dominique Aegerter and the Kawasaki works team: parting ways after this season

Kawasaki and Domi Aegerter started the 2026 Supersport World Championship with high hopes; together, they aimed to finally bring the title back to the Greens for the first time since 2016 (Kenan Sofuoglu). What followed was a season that fell far short of expectations, leaving both sides disappointed.

In the first race at Donington Park, Jeremy Alcoba secured Kawasaki’s first podium finish of the season by finishing third behind Tom Booth-Amos (Triumph) and World Championship leader Albert Arenas (AS Yamaha). Aegerter has not finished higher than sixth in any race so far; in England, he crossed the finish line in 12th and 14th place. It is clear that rider and machine are not a good enough match to compete at the front of the fiercely contested Supersport World Championship, where the level of competition is higher than ever before.

First Kawasaki works rider for 2027 confirmed

Ahead of the race weekend at Donington Park, Kawasaki announced David Salvador (23) as its first factory rider for the 2027 Supersport World Championship. This makes it clear that either Dominique Aegerter or Jeremy Alcoba – or both – will lose their place with the Greens.

“It’s certain that we’ll continue to field two riders in the Supersport World Championship,” said team boss Manuel Puccetti in a one-on-one interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. “As things stand today, I can’t say whether we’ll carry on with one of our current riders or completely revamp the line-up.”

Salvador is a home-grown Kawasaki talent; the 23-year-old Spaniard currently leads the Sportbike World Championship. Alcoba is 7th in the overall Supersport World Championship standings, Aegerter 17th – meaning both are falling short of expectations.

David Salvador (li.) mit Kawasaki-Teamchef Manuel Puccetti

Foto: kawasaki

“I have a few riders on my list from the Moto2 and Supersport World Championships,” revealed Puccetti. “But it’s still too early to make a decision like that. Our priority in June was to sign Garrett Gerloff for the Superbike World Championship and then Salvador. We decided that in Misano, when the president of Kawasaki Japan was there and emphasised that we need to nurture talent within the Kawasaki family. That’s why we chose David. As for the second rider, it will be another two months before we make a decision. We want to see who’s available.”

Aegerter and the Kawasaki aren’t a good match

“We gave it a go with Dominique, but it’s not working out on our Supersport bike,” said the Italian of the two-time world champion. “We’ve tried everything, but he’s 0.6 to 1.2 seconds off the pace. At Misano, he was 0.678 seconds off pole position – that’s not bad, but it meant he finished 18th. The standard of the championship is incredibly high this year. When Kenan won the championship with us, the rider in third place was sometimes 0.8 or 1 second behind – today, if you’re a second off the pace, you’re 22nd. It’s not a disaster, but we’d expected to get him up the order.”

“We’ve reached a certain level and are stuck there.”

Manuel Puccetti on Domi Aegerter

Kawasaki (636 cc) is, alongside Honda (600 cc), the last manufacturer in the Supersport World Championship to compete with a classic inline four-cylinder engine in the 600 cc range; all the others have been relying on larger-capacity engines for years. Would it have helped Aegerter, after three years in Superbike, if he’d returned to the middle class of the World Championship on a bike with a larger engine capacity?

“When Domi moved from MotoE to the Supersport World Championship, he adapted very quickly and was outstanding and incredibly fast in both classes,” noted Puccetti. “That’s why I’d expected him to perform better. But after three years in the Superbike World Championship, he probably hasn’t yet found a way to adapt to this bike. Or perhaps our team hasn’t found a way to give him the perfect bike – I don’t know. We’ve reached a certain level and are stuck there. I believe he could perform better on a bike with a larger engine capacity.”