Another piece of the 2026 FIM Supersport World Championship grid slides into place. The AS Racing squad and Yamaha have announced that not only will they collaborate in the 2026 campaign, but they will also have a new pair of riders to pilot their Yamaha R9 bikes. Their new lineup has no shortage of talent as both riders bring Champion pedigree to the garage, Aldi Mahendra with his 2024 WorldSSP300 title, and Albert Arenas with his 2020 Moto3 World Championship.

ARENAS’ NEW ARENA: The 28-year-old is taking on a new challenge in the WorldSSP paddock

Arenas competed for four seasons in the Moto3 European Championship before his breakout 2015 campaign, where the Spaniard’s three wins and six podiums raised his profile substantially. While he made his Moto3 debut in 2014 for a single round, he made the jump to Moto3 in 2016. That season and the subsequent 2017 were learning years for Arenas, preparing him for 2018, when he jumped to ninth in the final standings and landed his first two wins in the category. His podium tally increased to three in 2019, before his 2020 campaign’s three wins and five podiums earned him the title of Moto3 World Champion. His title helped him make the jump to Moto2, where he currently sits in ninth, with one round left before his move to WorldSSP in 2026.

On the jump to WorldSSP, the Girona native Arenas said: “I am very happy to join Yamaha with the new AS Racing team in World Supersport. It’s a new challenge and championship for me, and it’s a big opportunity for me to build my racing career and return to winning ways. I arrive with a lot of motivation and the mentality of wanting to keep growing as a rider. My objective is clear: to be as competitive as possible and ride to the best of my ability. To be part of an official structure with the support of Yamaha is something that motivates me, and I trust a lot in the potential of the project and I want to thank Yamaha and the team for the trust and confidence in me. It will be an exciting new journey, and I’m very excited.”

BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER: Mahendra will take on his sophomore season physically 100% and with more experience

He will join Aldi Mahendra, who had a pacey rookie year in WorldSSP after his WorldSSP300 Riders’ Championship success. The Indonesian broke into the top ten on seven occasions of the 16 races he competed in this season, including a season high of fifth place in Race 1 at Most. Unfortunately, he saw his season cut short after suffering wrist injuries in a training accident before Magny-Cours. Having had sufficient time to get back to 100%, and riding into his sophomore season with more experience under his belt, He will look to utilise his familiarity with the Yamaha R9 to land his maiden podium in 2026.

On the new team, Mahendra said: “First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for trusting me to return to racing next year after my injury. I learned a lot in 2025, and I will look to make the most of that next season, working as hard as I can to improve on last year. To join a new team is also exciting, and I am looking forward to getting started with winter testing!”

AS RACING TO YAMAHA: The Yamaha R9’s impressive 2025 season draws suitors

AS Racing are one of the most experienced teams on the WorldSSP grid, having competed across the WorldSSP and WorldSBK paddocks for over a decade. Team Principal of AS Racing Andrea Quadranti and his team announced jointly with Yamaha that they will be changing it up from their 2025 collaboration with MV Agusta Reparto Corse and their F3 800 RR, and adopting the Yamaha R9 after it earned its stripes in its rookie 2025 season, where it propelled Stefano Manzi to a World Championship and Can Oncu to runner-up.

On the move, AS Racing Team Principal Andrea Quadranti said: “We are very happy to be joining Yamaha for the 2026 FIM Supersport World Championship. Yamaha is a manufacturer who have been dominant in the Supersport category since the start and has won more world titles than any other manufacturer in the class. The R9 impressed us all last year with how competitive it was from the first race, and we are really excited to start our new chapter. Regarding the riders, it looks like a perfect combination to me. Aldi Mahendra was very impressive as a rookie in 2025, and Albert has shown great motivation for the start of his new adventure, besides the fact that he has already been a World Champion during his career, and he is still showing great results even in Moto2. We are pleased to welcome both to our team for 2026, and we cannot wait to get started with this new project!”

Yamaha Motor Europe’s Road Racing Sporting Manager Niccolo Canepa also spoke on the new deal, he said: “2025 was an incredible season for Yamaha in World Supersport, winning the rider, manufacturers and teams’ championship with the all-new R9. This success was a reflection of the quality of our teams and riders, and adding Andrea Quadranti’s AS Racing team to our line-up for 2026 only strengthens our presence. The team have achieved a lot of success in WorldSSP over the years, and we are pleased to welcome them to Yamaha. We have seen over the years how strong riders moving from the Grand Prix paddock can be in World Supersport, so we are excited about the signing of Albert Arenas. Already a World Champion, Albert’s talent is unquestionable, and we cannot wait to see him on the R9. Aldi Mahendra is a rider we are all incredibly proud of, as he has been with Yamaha throughout his career, stepping up from the R3 BLU CRU World Cup to WorldSSP300 and then WorldSSP, where he impressed as a rookie last year before his injury. With a year of experience, he should be able to take a step to fight for the podium consistently making for a very strong line-up in the new AS Racing team.”

Check out Mahendra’s best moments from 2025 and his title-winning 2024 WorldSSP300 season with the WorldSBK VideoPass!