In the final round of the 2024 FIM Supersport 300 World Championship has been wrapped up by Aldi Mahendra (Team BrCorse), making history by becoming the first ever Indonesian World Champion. A stunning season, headlined by a victory, podiums and staggering consistency, saw him rise to the fore in the closing stages, securing the Championship in dramatic style on Sunday afternoon in WorldSSP300 with P6.

THE EARLY YEARS: who is the wonderkid from Yogyakarta?

Mahendra’s career inside the WorldSBK paddock began in the Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup, after a season racing in the Asian 250cc class. He raced twice there in 2023, taking a podium but in Europe, he was becoming a force to be reckoned with. Despite a slow start to his R3 cup career in terms of results (he was on fire in Superpole, taking pole in the opening two rounds), Mahendra hauled himself into contention in the closing stages with a fantastic run of form, winning five out of the last seven races, retiring in the two he didn’t win. He missed out on the Championship by four points but his name was already being touted as one to watch. He’d already stepped up to WorldSSP300 for two races at Most, storming to victory in just his second race, a sign of things to come for the Indonesian youngster.

2024’s MOVE UP: a full-time addition to WorldSSP300

Then came his full-time graudation to World Supersport 300, where he was instantly impressive, on the podium in the opening round in Barcelona with P2. He was joint Championship leader after the opening round but then came his worst round of the season despite setting a fastest lap in Race 1 and starting from pole in Race 2: Assen. P8 and P11 left him with a point to prove going to Misano and he sure made a point in Italy. P2 in Race 1 saw a return to the podium but it was Race 2 where a final corner pass on the last lap saw him take his first victory of the season.

Mahendra was back in top form after three rounds and next was where he took a career-first win: Most. It wasn’t to be the same in 2024, with eighth place in Race 1 but a podium in Race 2, directly behind main title rivals Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) and Inigo Iglesias (Fusport-RT Motorsport by SKM-Kawasaki). At the halfway point of the season, he was in second, 19 points adrift of the Championship lead. Going into the second half of the year, Iglesias fell apart at Portimao with a double DNF – one due to a crash and the other due to a mechanical, meaning his Championship lead evaporated. It may have been only P6 and P8 for Mahendra compared to Loris Veneman who was 2nd and 4th and he may have slipped to third overall but his consistency meant he was now only 11 points from the top.

HITTING THE FRONT AT THE RIGHT TIME: Magny-Cours brings big points ahead of Aragon match point

As WorldSSP300 hurtled into France and the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Mahendra was right there to take advantage of misfortune all around him. Veneman fell and finished 16th in Race 1 whilst Iglesias crashed on the last lap of Race 2. These results for his rivals, combined with a P2 and P3 for 18-year-old Mahendra, meant that he left France with a 12-point advantage, meaning he was in frame to be Champion at MotorLand Aragon. While he wasn’t able to wrap it up at Aragon, he headed to Jerez with match point. The fight would end up going to Sunday’s Race 2, the final race of the season, before wrapping up the title in the exact fashion you’d expect in WorldSSP300.

Congratulate Mahendra on social media using the hashtag #SelamatAld1 and watch his best moments from 2024 using the WorldSBK VideoPass – only €9.99!