The FIM Supersport World Championship brought their Acerbis French Round to a close in dramatic fashion as Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha) took the top step of the podium for his career-first WorldSSP win, becoming the 72^nd different winner in the class’s history. His triumphant effort makes him the sixth-youngest ever winner and brings Yamaha their 170^th win in the class. Riding home from France in P2, Albert Arenas’s (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) podium effort was a grind, but with his hand injury, pulling out such a result was an emotional feat for the #75. Snagging a bronze medal in Race 2, Valentin Debise (EASTROC ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) closes his home round in P3, tying Sebastien Charpentier for 13^th all-time in WorldSSP podiums.

FIVE RIDERS AT THE FRONT PRIOR TO RED FLAG

Tom Booth Amos started from pole and took the holeshot into Turn 1 on the opening Lap. Filippo Farioli (VFT Racing), Aldi Mahendra (AS BLU CRU Racing Team), Jorge Navarro (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) and Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) quickly made their way past him on Lap 1. Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) charged up the grid from P13 after a poor Tissot Superpole showing and a Race 1 crashout after contact. After just four laps, Arenas was already up at the front in P2 fighting with Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) for the race lead while his Indonesian teammate had fallen backwards out of the podium fight. Debise fell back from P4 to P7 after the opening lap, yet as Arenas blazed past him up from P13 on the grid, he found another gear and chased him back up to the front of the order, chasing the #61 and #75 in the battle for the race win with 12 Laps to go. Replacement rider Navarro even led the race for stretches, but he closed his first weekend in the WorldSSP saddle in 2026 with an unfortunate DNF finish after a Turn 13 crash on Lap 4. Later on Turn 13 of Lap 10, the battle heated up as Debise slipped past Oncu to lead the race for the first time, yet the battle was put on hold as Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) took an unfortunate spill on Turn 3 of Lap 11, bringing out the red flag in order to make repairs to the air fence.

GARCIA SIEZES THE DAY

After the restart, Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) flew off the line to take the holeshot at the head of fellow Yamaha riders Oncu and Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha). Debise had dropped back to P4 after the first lap of the restart, behind Oncu who ran wide on the second lap after the restart on Turn 3, losing ground to Debise while the Turk managed to keep the position. Just before the start of the final lap, Arenas ran wide into Turn 17, dropping him back to P3 ahead of Debise Oncu and Garcia. Ahead of them, the Turk ran clear of Garcia until Turn 15, sending him wide as the Spaniard shot past for his first-ever WorldSSP win.

TOUGH LUCK FOR THE TURK

Oncu was one of the strongest riders on track, leading for stretches both before and after the red flag, but one mistake was enough to send him down off the podium as he finished P4. Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki WorldSSP Team) was all the way up to P5 at the end of the first lap after the restart, considerable progress as he had started the race originally from P12. He dug in and defended that position to finish in that spot, his fourth top-six finish in five races after scoring just one this season prior to this streak. Farioli took P6, dropping one position after starting from P5 after the restart, similarly strong results for the Italian.

PROUD RESULTS FOR CHINESE MANUFACTURERS

Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) closed Race 2 in P7, recovering well from P11 and closing the round without having been involved in the podium battle in the round. Federico Caricasulo (EASTROC ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) made it two ZXMOTO 820RR machines in the top eight, and scored points in both of a round’s races for the second time this season. Mahendra did well to log the second-fastest lap in Race 1 to earn a P2 grid start, but by the red flag he had fallen back to P8 and lost another position to finish Race 2 in P9. Rounding off the top ten, home hero Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) wasn’t able to make much headway up the grid ahead of him, finishing in P10. Farther back, Raffaele de Rosa (QJMOTOR Factory Racing) landed QJMOTOR’s first points of the season as he finished P13.

The top six from the WorldSSP Race 2: Full results here!

1. Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha)
2. Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) +0.414s
3. Valentin Debise (EASTROC ZXMOTO Evan Bros Factory) +0.761s
4. Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) +0.841s
5. Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki WorldSSP Team) +1.071s
6. Filippo Farioli (VFT Racing Yamaha) +1.629s

Championship standings

1. Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) 311 points
2. Valentin Debise (EASTROC ZXMOTO Evan Bros Factory) 241
3. Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) 216
4. Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) 210
5. Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) 165
6. Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha) 164

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