FIM Supersport World Championship rider Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki WorldSSP Team) took a first podium for himself and his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 in Race Two at Estoril, after a quite remarkable ride through almost the entire pack.
After moving forward rapidly from 24th place in Race One on Saturday, and finishing an already astonishing seventh, Jeremy improved on even that amazing performance to end his race inside the top three on Sunday, 12 October.
With an even better bike set-up than he enjoyed on Saturday, Alcoba’s name moved up and up through the rankings, finally finishing just under a second from second place and just over 3.5 seconds from the race winner – and new World Champion – Stefano Manzi.
Jeremy also set the fastest lap of the second race, with a 1’39.868.
Alcoba has enjoyed some top ten and even top five rides this year, mixed in with some less satisfying results. This first ever podium for him and the Ninja ZX-6R 636 was thus all the sweeter for all involved in the Kawasaki WorldSSP effort.
This third place was the 167th podium placing for a Kawasaki rider in WorldSSP, and the first since 2023.
In the championship table Alcoba is ninth, with 159 points – just ten points behind eighth position overall.
After Estoril, the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto hosts the final round of the year, between 17-19 October. There will be two more full WorldSSP races to compete in, with Jeremy and his crew out for more podium success at a circuit he knows well from both his domestic racing experiences and his recent outings inside the MotoGP paddock.
Jeremy Alcoba
“Today we took our first podium position. I feel amazing because it has been a long time since I have been in Parc Ferme. I came to this championship to win, but it has been a difficult year. I promised myself to make a podium before I finished the season. So I am happy for this. Friday was really bad in Superpole Qualifying, and I didn’t expect that. Six years ago, when I was last here in Moto3, I was on pole. I promised myself that it would be here that I got another podium. In Saturday’s warm-up, the team did a really good job, so we were super-fast in Race One. I started 24th, so it was a difficult comeback. Last night was happy because I thought I would start in the top ten grid places today, but no, it was 25th place on the Sunday grid. I was a bit sad at that yesterday, but then I said, no, I will do better in Race Two. The team added another extra improvement in the set-up, and I was super-fast and super-happy. The pace was amazing, and I enjoyed it like a kid. I was passing everywhere. I was seeing some top guys through all the race, and I was like, “Ok, one more… OK, two more…’ I only want to say thank you to everyone that believes in me.”
