Aldi Satya Mahendra will go down in the history books as Indonesia’s first ever motorcycle road racing world champion, after the 18-year-old former bLU cRU rider clinched the 2024 FIM Supersport World Championship title in style during the final round of the series at the Circuito de Jerez, after a season of epic racing.
Mahendra is the second bLU cRU rider to be crowned champion in the WorldSSP300 class, with Alvaro Diaz also claiming the world title for Yamaha back in 2022.
Like Diaz before him, Mahendra’s championship winning race in Jerez brings to an end his WorldSSP300 career. The Indonesian youngster will benefit from Yamaha’s racing step-up program, designed to support the next generation of talent, and in 2025 Mahendra will contest the FIM Supersport World Championship aboard an R9 with a Yamaha supported team.
Mahendra’s career began at just nine years of age in the 2015 Indonesian national series, and by 2019 he had already moved onto the international racing scene, riding full time in the Asia Road Racing Championship. Despite losing a year of riding due to the pandemic in 2021, by the end of 2022 his success in Asia led him to the Yamaha FIM R3 bLU cRU World Cup.
Once inside the bLU cRU programme in 2023, Mahendra quickly grew in confidence and competence, taking second place in only the third race of the year. By the third round at Misano World Circuit he had already taken his first victory, the beginning of a run of five wins that would see him battle for the title until the final race of 2023.
During a gap in the FIM R3 bLU cRU World Cup calendar, Mahendra made his WorldSSP300 debut as a wildcard in Most and surprised the series regulars with an emphatic win in Race 2.
After narrowly missing out on the FIM R3 bLU cRU World Cup title at the final round of 2023, Mahendra made the switch to WorldSSP300 full time in 2024 and quickly made his mark. Second place at the first race in Barcelona was backed up with another second place and a win in Misano. He stepped onto the podium again in Most, and after missing out on a top three finish in Portimão, he bounced back with a double podium in Magny-Cours, where he was joined both times by his older brother, and WorldSSP rival, Galang Hendra Pratama.
With the 2024 WorldSSP300 title now in his sights, he had to rein in his usually all-out riding style to focus on consistent point scoring places. A podium at the penultimate round in Aragón set him up nicely for the final push in Jerez, a third place in Race 1 meant Mahendra went into the last race of the year with a 22-point lead. He kept calm and rode with precision to take sixth at the chequered flag, securing the title by 21 points.
Aldi Satya Mahendra, 2024 WorldSSP300 Champion:
“It’s incredible, this was my dream since I was a child. I saw my brother racing and I just wanted to join him, I wanted to be like him. I entered the bLU cRU World Cup and the rest is history. Now I’m WorldSSP300 Champion, and the first ever World Champion from Indonesia. A big thanks to all my friends, family, fans and of course my BrCorse Team. Thanks to Yamaha Racing for their belief in me as I step up to WorldSSP next year with the new R9!”
