Albert Arenas and Aldi Satya Mahendra will race the Yamaha R9 with AS Racing in the 2026 World Supersport Championship, strengthening Yamaha’s powerhouse WSSP line-up.
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Yamaha Motor Europe has officially confirmed that Andrea Quadranti’s AS Racing team will switch to the Yamaha R9 platform for the 2026 FIM Supersport World Championship. They’re arriving with a potent new rider pairing: former Moto3 World Champion Albert Arenas and rising Indonesian star Aldi Satya Mahendra.
For Yamaha, the deal is a continuation of momentum. AS Racing brings over a decade of Supersport / WorldSBK experience into Yamaha’s programme. After Yamaha’s sensational “Triple Crown” debut with the R9 in 2025, rider, manufacturer, and team titles, the strength of the manufacturer’s WSSP roster for 2026 looks intimidating on paper.
Arenas Makes the Move from Moto2
Arenas’ arrival is a headline move. The 28-year-old Spaniard, Moto3 World Champion in 2020 and current Moto2 campaigner, becomes the latest GP paddock graduate to try and ‘do a Locatelli’ and reinvent himself into a title threat in Supersport.
With six GP race wins and real calibre in higher-capacity machinery, Arenas enters WSSP with pedigree, big ambition, and a clear target: to return to winning form.
Mahendra Continues His Yamaha Climb
Mahendra, still only in his teens, is one of Yamaha’s best long-term success stories.
From R3 bLU cRU to WorldSSP300 World Champion in 2024 to WorldSSP rookie in 2025.
His rookie year proved he can already race in the top five. Injury slowed his late-season momentum, but Yamaha believes his 2026 ceiling is podium consistency.
For AS Racing, pairing a proven champion with arguably Yamaha’s most valuable young talent is a perfect “two-front” attack strategy. It charges with immediate competitiveness + future championship development.
Yamaha’s 2026 WorldSSP Arsenal is Fully Loaded
AS Racing joins an already stacked Yamaha WorldSSP roster:
- Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing – Can Öncü & Yuki Okamoto
- GMT94 Yamaha – Roberto Garcia & Lucas Mahias
- now AS Racing – Albert Arenas & Aldi Satya Mahendra
This is exactly the structure Yamaha wanted. Multiple teams capable of taking wins, feeding the R9 programme with data, and executing a multi-team title bid.
What They Said
Yamaha Road Racing Sporting Manager Niccolò Canepa emphasised the strategic fit. Arenas’ GP calibre plus Mahendra’s Yamaha DNA equals the perfect new chapter for AS Racing.
AS Racing’s Andrea Quadranti said the R9’s 2025 performance was too compelling to ignore and described his rider line-up as “the perfect combination.”
Arenas said the move is about rebuilding and winning again. Mahendra said the target is simple: come back from injury stronger and fight for podiums every weekend.
2026 Outlook
The R9 changed the Supersport landscape in just one season.
Now Yamaha is doubling down, adding another experienced race-winning team and elevating a GP race winner and a breakout Indonesian hero into a new R9 project.
2026 WorldSSP just got a lot more interesting.
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