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Dominique Aegerter managed to make up a bit for his setback on Saturday during the second race in Portugal, when the Kawasaki rider finished eighth after a restart that was shortened to six laps, rounding up a positive weekend.

On the morning of race Sunday, thick morning fog still hung over the Circuito do Estoril, not far from the Atlantic coast at Europe’s most western point. Aside from a light drizzle, however, the feared rain held off all day.

By the time the last preparations for the Supersport race got underway shortly after noon, more clouds had rolled in, and it promptly began to drizzle slightly in some places. However, there was so little rain that the drizzle had no impact on the action on track. While many looked up at the sky with concern, the wild horde of supersport riders raced on unhindered at full throttle.

At the start of the first race, Dominique Aegerter lined up his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 in twelfth place on the grid. Starting from the fourth row, his initial acceleration when the lights went out wasn’t exactly lightning-fast. After the first lap, the 35-year-old Swiss rider had crossed the start-finish line in 20th place, but he worked his way up a bit with each lap. When the race was red flagged due to a crash by another rider that required the track to be cleared, Aegerter was already in the points.

For the restart, the starting positions were determined by the riders’ positions at the time of the race got stopped due to the red flag. For Aegerter, that meant P14 on Row 5. On the second attempt to start, he got off to a slightly better start, although the rider from the canton of Bern lost two more positions on the first lap. Starting with the second lap, Aegerter stepped up the pace and worked his way up from 16th to 11th place practically in the blink of an eye; one lap later, he was already in the top ten. After six laps of full-throttle racing, constantly pushing to the limits, he finally crossed the finish line in eighth place and earned important points for the championship standings, where a spot in the top 15 remains a realistic possibility.

The 2026 Supersport World Championship will come to a close this coming weekend with its final round at the Circuito de Jerez in southern Spain.

#77 Dominique AEGERTER (Kawasaki WorldSSP Team, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636)
Grid Position 14 / Race 2: P8

«To wrap up the weekend in Estoril, we finished in the top ten and were able to make up for some of what we’d missed out yesterday. It was a crazy race. First, the red flag was waved, which meant the race was interrupted. At that point, I was in 14th place. In the early laps, I had a hard time attacking and passing other riders. That was really difficult. At the restart, I had to start from 14th place but immediately dropped back two positions. Since there were only six laps left, I gave it my all from the very first meter and ultimately crossed the finish line in eighth place. That’s a solid result, especially since we took another step forward this weekend. A big thank you to the team for their great support, which is helping me getting more and more comfortable with our package. Unfortunately, this is coming a bit late, since we’ve already completed the penultimate race weekend of the season. But better late than never.»

«Finally, I can show that I’m competitive, as evidenced by the third-fastest lap time in today’s race. Congratulations to Jeremy, who once again did a great job this weekend with two podium finishes, including today’s victory. In a week, we’ll be in Jerez, where I really want to give my all. We’ll be more competitive if we start the weekend at a similar level to what we saw here. Eighth place was a positive way to end the weekend, even if the result was somewhat skewed by a few crashes. But we were in the leading group in both races, which gives us a boost to keep working hard and continue improving. A big thank you to the guys in the garage, the entire team, and everyone involved in this project. In Jerez, on my final race weekend in green, I’ll give it my all one last time. That’s for sure!»

#EstorilWorldSBK - WorldSSP Warm Up 2:
1 Can ÖNCÜ / TUR / Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing / Yamaha YZF-R9 / 1´39.078
2 Lucas MAHIAS / FRA / GMT94 Yamaha / Yamaha YZF-R9 / 1´39.310 +0.232
3 Valentin DEBISE / FRA / EASTROC ZXMOTO Evan Bros Factory / ZXMOTO 820RR / 1´39.389 +0.311
…
14 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Kawasaki WorldSSP Team / Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 / 1´40.079 +1.001

#EstorilWorldSBK - WorldSSP Race 2 (6 Laps):
1 Jeremy ALCOBA / SPA / Kawasaki WorldSSP Team / Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 / 10´01.340
2 Filippo FARIOLI / ITA / VFT Racing Yamaha / Yamaha YZF-R9 / +0.378
3 Valentin DEBISE / FRA / EASTROC ZXMOTO Evan Bros Factory / ZXMOTO 820RR / +1.310
…
8 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Kawasaki WorldSSP Team / Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 / +3.707

WorldSSP Standings:
1 Albert ARENAS / SPA / Yamaha / 364
2 Valentin DEBISE / FRA / ZXMOTO / 291
3 Can ÖNCÜ / TUR / Yamaha / 234
…
18 #77 Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Kawasaki / 57