October 16–18, 2026 | WorldSBK & WorldSSP Round 12, Jerez de la Frontera
The curtain fell on the 2026 season in Jerez, marking an exhilarating weekend for the Kawasaki team. Manuel Puccetti’s squad celebrated a fantastic Sunday in Andalusia, with Jeremy Alcoba taking first place ahead of Dominique Aegerter—the final race of 2026 delivering Kawasaki’s first one-two finish in WorldSSP in a decade.
JEREMY ALCOBA | Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 | WorldSSP
Alcoba’s weekend began with the fifth-fastest time in Superpole—less than half a second off Arenas—in a tightly contested session on the 4.423-kilometer circuit. Race 1 highlighted the progress of the ZX-6R 636 in managing full race distance; the Spaniard staged a determined comeback to secure second place, finishing 0.533 seconds behind the winner, Arenas, and 1.728 seconds ahead of third-placed Öncü. It marked his eighth WorldSSP podium and provided the perfect momentum to reignite the battle for third place in the World Championship, with Öncü now just one point ahead.
Sunday’s race took place under dark skies, with temperatures at 23°C—significantly cooler than on Saturday. The start kicked off a contest defined by constant lead changes, with Alcoba, Aegerter, Ferrari, Öncü, and Debise all battling within the same group. Alcoba took the lead on the twelfth lap, seizing the moment when Ferrari pushed Aegerter wide at Turn 6, allowing him to slip through on the inside of both riders. A lap after Navarro’s crash at Turn 8, the red flag was shown, freezing the standings with Alcoba in first, Aegerter 0.482 seconds behind, and Ferrari—on his Ducati—in third, 0.720 seconds back.
This marks Alcoba’s fourth win of the season—his fourth in the last three rounds: Cremona, Estoril, and now Jerez. The victory secures him third place overall in the World Championship with 274 points, placing him ahead of Öncü and trailing only Arenas and Debise. It is the culmination of a season-end surge built on a clear strategy: a ZX-6R 636 that found its balance over race distance, paired with a rider capable of extracting its full potential.
DOMINIQUE AEGERTER | Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 | WorldSSP
For Aegerter, Jerez was a weekend of redemption, evident as early as Friday. By qualifying fourth—his best starting position of the season—he demonstrated the results of focused work on qualifying, an area that had been a weakness in previous rounds. In Race 1, he translated that grid spot into his best finish of the year: fifth, 5.355 seconds behind Arenas, maintaining a consistent pace that improved upon his sixth-place result at Assen.
In Race 2, he started from seventh and managed his race intelligently. After sitting eighth three laps in, he climbed to fourth; then, in the second half, he found his rhythm. At Turn 6, he overtook both Debise and Öncü in a single move, and by lap 11, he had taken the lead ahead of Ferrari. The red flag halted the race while he was in second position, 0.482 seconds behind his teammate. It is his first podium of the season and, more importantly, a second-place finish that speaks volumes about the caliber of the two-time world champion: the speed has always been there, but at Jerez, he finally found the consistency to match it. He concludes the season with 88 points.
GARRETT GERLOFF | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | WorldSBK
Gerloff’s season finale hinged almost entirely on qualifying. The Texan finished sixteenth in Superpole, relegating him to the sixth row—a significant disadvantage in a format where starting position is crucial. In Race 1, he managed to limit the damage by fighting back from sixteenth to fourteenth place; he finished just over 29 seconds behind Bulega and a mere nine thousandths of a second behind Locatelli, securing two points that helped him hold onto ninth place in the World Championship standings with 162 points.
Sunday’s Superpole Race followed a similar pattern: starting from sixteenth, Gerloff crossed the finish line in thirteenth. He repeated this result in Race 2, taking thirteenth place—worth three points—as the heaviest rain arrived only after the race had concluded. He ends the season with 165 points and tenth place in the championship—a result built on consistency, with a bike that, over race distance, demonstrated the pace needed to stay within the chasing pack.
Thus concludes a season of steady growth for Kawasaki, transitioning from the struggles of the first half to a breakthrough performance at the end. Jerez served as the final race of 2026, delivering a championship conclusion that no one could have foreseen for Alcoba, Aegerter, and the Puccetti team: a one-two finish on the top steps of the podium.
