Bayliss upbeat on future as he hits form at Estoril

Oli Bayliss narrowly misses out on maiden WorldSSP win as Albert Arenas seals the 2026 title

New WorldSSP Champion Albert Arenas (AS Racing Yamaha) clearly wanted to win the championship by winning Race One, but the PTR Factory Triumphs of Tom Booth-Amos and Oli Bayliss, plus Cremona double race winner Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki WorldSSP Team), prevented this from happening. Oli’s weekend started well with a fourth place in Superpole Qualifying, then a second place in Race One, just 0.075 seconds from his first WorldSSP race win, which was spine-tingling stuff.

Arenas was fourth, and with his only possible championship rival Valentin Debise (ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) sixth, it was all over by Saturday lunchtime.

It was a full house in 2026 for Yamaha, as the blue bikes also took the Manufacturers’ crown after Race One.

Race Two was a red-flagged and restarted affair, over a sub-sprint six laps. Starting from fourth this time, Alcoba took a clear win, from Filippo Farioli (VFT Racing Team Yamaha) and Debise. Can Öncü (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) was fourth and fast former champion Lucas Mahias (GMT94-YAMAHA) fifth.

Arenas, so jubilant and core-deep happy on Saturday, saw a small technical problem halt his race in the first attempted running before the red flag. Bayliss was running at the sharp end but crashed after the restart, eventually recovering to 19th.

In the championship rankings, Arenas has an untouchable advantage, of course, and he now has 364 points to Debise’s 291. Öncü is third with 234 and Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura Ducati, and injured in a Race Two crash) is fourth with 229. Bayliss is 14th overall with 94 points.

Bayliss made no secret of where he sees his future, saying his ideal scenario is a move onto a ‘big bike’ and, ultimately, into WorldSBK where he could potentially join fellow countrymen Remy Gardner and Jack Miller on the grid. The pathway for 2027 appears narrow though, with several other high-profile names circling the few remaining seats.

Arenas’ title was built on consistency as much as outright speed. Jaume Masia had come out firing across the opening three rounds, while Arenas stayed close behind in second overall after claiming a win and three podiums of his own. The turning point came at Balaton Park, where Arenas moved into the championship lead with second place in Race One as Masia crashed out. From there, he took control of the season, and a run of six straight races finishing first or second, including a Race Two win at Misano, proved decisive in the title fight.

What made the achievement even more impressive was that Arenas arrived in WorldSSP this year as a rookie. Despite the expectations that came with his previous world title pedigree, there were still questions about how quickly he would adapt to the class after a shortened pre-season. He answered those emphatically, joining the small group of riders to win the Supersport World Championship in their first full season and underlining just how strong his 2026 campaign has been.

Oli Bayliss
“In Race One, I was just trying to break it up a little bit, and I always prefer that over a big battle. I tried to go away, but I realised that I didn’t really have much left in the tank at the end. And the front tyre also, a little bit. Just because we were behind a lot of guys in the race and the temperature maybe went down. But everyone was in the same boat, and no one could get away.

“I think for sure also doing British Supersport helps me this year. It’s just the bike time. I have been out almost every weekend in the last six weeks; I have been riding the bikes. Since Donington we have seen a difference in me, especially here in this paddock. The speed has been better all round, and I think that’s just because we don’t have to waste FP1, as it takes a bit of time for me to get up to speed. We are normally on the speed from FP1 now and that makes it a lot better for qualifying, and then Race One/Race Two.

“In Cremona also we had good speed but after the crash in Race One that kind of hindered us for the rest of the weekend. We went back to the drawing board on Saturday night at Estoril but when you have a race that close, you don’t really want to change much on the bike that we gained in Race One.

“My ideal situation for 2027 is to be on a big bike. Since 2021, when I first rode a Superbike, I always enjoyed riding it and I think it suits my height and weight, and maybe my style a little bit. My ideal scenario is to ride a big bike. The goal is to end up in WorldSBK and how I get there I don’t really care! As long as I get there. This is my fifth year in WorldSSP, and finally, in the end we are making good results. We had a lot of injuries in my first few years, but the point is we have done five years now, and any more riding on a WorldSSP bike, I will turn into a WorldSSP bike!”

Tom Booth-Amos – Race 1 winner
“Yesterday was an incredible day for myself, Oli, Triumph and the PTR team to get that 1-2. It’s always great to stand on the top step and win, but to have your teammate and friend up there with you makes it that more special. Today, sadly it wasn’t meant to be, we tried but with the mixed conditions and the hecticness of the race it just wasn’t our day. We will now regroup and put all our focus to the final round next weekend and hope we can end the season on a high. Thank you to Triumph and to my team for their hard work yesterday!’

Jeremy Alcoba – Race 2 winner
“I am feeling really good with the bike right now. I did not have the confidence here that I had in the previous round in Cremona – because we did a test there – but Estoril is a track that I like and last year I made a good comeback. Yesterday I was 16th at one point, and I did not expect to make a good race. But even when not riding well with the bike, I was close to fighting for the victory. This morning in warm-up I felt really good with the bike but I was super-slow and I didn’t know why. I was a little mad with myself, and frustrated a bit. I was fourth in the first part of Race Two and I was careful with the wind and the little bit of rain. I did not expect to race like I did after the red flag but it felt really good. I was third, then second and then I tried to be first. I said to myself, ‘OK, if they do not pass me on the straight, I am going to win.” I thought this because I braked really late and really well, and I knew the corners where they could take some gap. In the last two laps they could not pass me and when I saw the lap time of the last lap, it was amazing. I am really happy.”

Albert Arenas – 2026 WorldSSP Champion
“It feels so, so good, so special to give this title to my team, especially after they did such an incredible job all season. It’s amazing how much hard work they and Yamaha put in. I’m super, super happy about the achievement.”

2026 WORLDSSP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 11 OF 12