A dramatic 2021 FIM Supersport World Championship title race has come to an end as Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) became World Champion during the Motul Argentinean Round. Race 2 in WorldSSP from the Circuito San Juan Villicum saw Aegerter’s main rival Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) taken down at Turn 1 by Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGO Team). Both remounted but Odendaal tucked the front at Turn 15 on Lap 13 as he went to try and keep his title hopes going as best that he could.

During the Turn 1 incident, Aegerter was lucky to stay up as he was forced to take avoiding action despite a lightning start from row two. Dropping to ninth in the early stages but slowly working his way through into third by Lap 7, where he would hold on and slowly edge away from the likes of Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) and Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team). Once he broke clear, Aegerter never looked back and cruised home for his first World Championship and Ten Kate Racing’s tenth in WorldSSP.

Speaking just moments after the race, the newly-crowned World Champion Aegerter had finally achieved his life-long dream: “The first World Championship title is amazing to get! It is difficult to realise it now, after the race. I hope soon that I can get back to the box and celebrate with all my team, but also all my friends, family and sponsors back at home. I can’t wait to get home and see them; I worked 31 years – or at least 20, 25 years – to become World Champion, and now I am.”

Asked about when he first realised that the World Championship was possible, Aegerter said he had the feeling right from putting pen to paper with the Dutch team: “When signing the contract with Ten Kate Racing, I knew that we had a World Championship-winning team and a Championship-winning bike with the Yamaha R6. We have good suppliers, good sponsors, and a good group of people at home, so we have everything we need to fight for the title. This was my goal, the team’s goal and everyone else’s goal too. Step-by-step, we were fighting for podiums and victories, and the end is when you get the title. We win it with one round to go, so for sure I’m super happy but we were always thinking race by race and now I have it!”

Aegerter’s season has been quite incredible, becoming the third rookie in four years to clinch the crown, whilst becoming the second Swiss World Champion in the class, after Randy Krummenacher in 2019. Aegerter also sets a record for podiums in a season with 14, whilst he becomes just the second rider to win at least ten races in a season after Andrea Locatelli in 2020. It’s the ninth title in the class for Yamaha too, who are now level with Honda, whilst Ten Kate Racing now also have 83 wins in the category, consolidating their status as World Supersport’s most successful team.

Continuing to talk after, Aegerter paid credit to main title rival Steven Odendaal: “He is a great rider, and we had many battles. He is a rider with a lot of experience, and we were fighting in Moto2™ together, but also other riders have been very strong. Some riders in other tracks were battling more but in all, I felt good. For sure, Steven has a strong team and a fast bike, so it wasn’t always easy! We are the Champions; we did everything right.”

It has been a remarkable story for Aegerter, and you can congratulate him on his first World Championship using the #DomiFighter hashtag!

Watch the final round of the season in 2021 with the WorldSBK VideoPass!